Gaming tournament
by Shintaro x soda
Summary: Shintaro starts to help Ayano study and they also partner up for a science project for the school science festival, but they somehow end up in a gaming tournament.
1. Chapter 1

Well this is the first story that i write so yeah if anyone reads this it would kinda like a miracle tough i doubt its really good anyway... i dont know anyway hope someone reads it =P

Shintaro x Ayano and later on Takane x Haruka. oh and every time i wrote ("something") it means the characters thats it.

i guess if anyone reads this ill make a chapter two =P

* * *

The birds were singing outside of his room, it was a sunny day, a beautiful day for going outside.

But there in his room was Shintaro just playing an online game with Takane, this time for a change of pace they decided to play sports games, and they would always end up in a tie of scores, one win for him, one for her, one for him, one for her, over and over again.

"Come on you jerk, next one I am breaking the tie!"

"Okay, okay…"

"We are playing now….. Racing games! Racing games it is!"

"Okay I'm out of soda though so I can't really continue like this just let me go buy some things and ill be back in like an hour, you decide the courses and settings and everything else for now."

"Yeah I'm gonna go buy some snacks too so let's restart when I get back too should take less than you to go buy the things I need."

It had been not that long ago that he started playing online games with Takane, for some reason as long as they were not in the same room together they could get along pretty well and have some healthy competition. Up until now the score was 55 wins for each one in different types of games.

Shintaro grabbed his phone and went to the entrance but before leaving he went to check on Momo to see if she wanted anything from the supermarket, they were alone after all since they mother went on a trip for work.

"Hey Momo I'm going to the supermarket you want anything?"

"O-oni-chan you are going out? And asking me if I want anything? Are you sure you are okay do you have a fever or something you should stay in bed or maybe-"

"Even I go out sometimes too you know…You want anything or not?!"

"Buy me some apple juice then!"

"Okay"

Shintaro stepped outside and felt the heat of the day on his skin.

"ahhhh… I hope I don't pass out…"

"…"

"Sun used sunny day! ... It's very effective! ..."

"Good thing no one heard that"

It was ten am in the morning and Shintaro was tired as hell since he woke up at 7 am today because of Takane, since she couldn't sleep anymore after she woke up at 5 am she called him because she was bored as hell, so that they could play online games together, although it didn't seem like a bad idea to spend the day that way he did feel very tired.

"Dammit Takane why at 7 am tough … anyway…still pretty fun playing videogames with her."

Then a few minutes later Shintaro arrived at the supermarket exhausted from the trial this walk was for him under the raging sun.

"Ah…. Water…. I mean…. Soooodaaaa"

The tired boy's cellphone started to ring

It was Ayano.

They had exchanged phone numbers for a science project they were doing together. Ayano said it would be a good idea to have each other's numbers since they should take some time to make this project really good, because it was pretty important since the pair that got first place would get the chance to take 5 tests for any subject and replace all of their grades with the new ones gotten on the 5 tests. It did seem like something pretty tedious since you would have to take tests again and it didn't feel like a prize at all, but for Shintaro and Ayano it was useful, Ayano wanted to improve any subject's grades and Shintaro his, well… p.e. grades tough he would have to practice anyway so he wasn't that hopeful of improving them.

("Dammit Shintaro keep cool…")

For some reason lately he was pretty nervous around Ayano, maybe it was because of that time he found her crying in the classroom when there was no one there, for some reason he felt really bad inside, as if he couldn't do anything for her, he thought "maybe I should just leave her alone", but he then felt that really wouldn't end up well for her, she always followed him around no matter how boring or tedious was what he was doing, so now he felt it was his time to be there with her even if he couldn't do anything that significant to help her.

So he decided with all his antisocial skills, to go and try to comfort her. Prepare yourself for awkward Shintaro.

"H-hey A-Ayano… a-are you… alright?"

"S-S-Shintaro-kun?"

Ayano quickly started to wipe off her tears, surprised to see Shintaro there.

For the first time Shintaro actually felt so worried for a friend, it was painful to see the cheerful girl crying like that, he really wanted to do something to help her.

"Y-y-you know… you can… tell me or something if you want I'm… not busy or anything today…"

("Yes, freaking nailed that, Kisaragi Shintaro master of comforting people…")

"Thanks Shintaro-kun but I gotta do this alone."

"N-no! You don't have to, I mean… I'm here too you know… before you came in to my life I was always so bored but you always make the most happiest moments from the most simple things in our daily life… so it's my turn to make it better for you too… your life I mean … problems… yeah…"

"Shintaro-kun you are so cute when you are so awkward "

"S-shut up…"

Ayano stood up and hugged Shintaro with all her strength.

"Well then… I'll tell you… since my mother fell really ill my dad has been kind of like… tired you could say… I know he is really worried… but also besides from that he has to worry about my brothers and me… and my grades aren't really improving so he tries to help me but he doesn't really have that much time I wish I could make him feel that he doesn't have to worry about that and also take care of my brothers too… but I don't know how to do it…"

"Then I'll help you, to study and improve your grades, and if you need help with taking care of your brothers maybe I can help too I don't really know how tough…"

"A-are you sure? Isn't it too much of a burden."

"No it is not; look you can rely on me you know"

("Ahhhh this is so embarrassing I can feel my face turning bright red")

"Humm… okay then… I'll rely on you then for this Shintaro-kun, b-but don't go leaving me alone now okay? Hehe..."

"O-okay"

"So yeah…hey my usual partner for science projects said she wanted to do it someone else this time… maybe she got bored of me because of my grades. Think we can do it together?"

"Ah…ehh…y-yeah"

"Then let's exchange numbers so we can keep in contact with the project and call each other to meet outside of school to make it in time for the science festival!"

"Y-yeah I guess so… let's exchange numbers"

("Dammit heart whyyyy are you pounding so hard right now, I bet its because of that shoujo manga I was reading yesterday the scenes were too much like this one, also her face is too close and it's really not helping to calm my heart, come heart slow down !")

"Ahm…S-S-Shintaro-kun?"

"Y-yes?"

"I-i-if y-you don't let go of me I can't really get my phone from my bag"

Ayano was blushing really hard.

Shintaro noticed they had been still hugging each other this whole conversation about the science project and quickly let go of her.

"AH! I'm s-s-sorry I didn't notice!"

"N-nah it's okay I really feel safer when you hug me, even though it's the first time you hug me actually so I just realised that so yeah… I mean…ahhh forget that forget it!"

"O-okay"

"Th-then let's text each other a lot…I mean for the project the project AHH forget that too please"

"Yeah I'll send you a text so that we can meet then too"

"Okay then see you tomorrow again! "

She was smiling like her usual self again.

"Yeah see you tomorrow"

That was a week with a lot of blushing from the two of them good thing it was only one day left since that was a Thursday.

"H-hey Shintaro-kun I was calling you because of the hug- I-I m-mean the science project, project!"

"Ohh yeah when do you want to do that?"

"(Low voice)m-maybe another hug would be good too right now…"

Beep beep. Shintaro got a text message from Takane.

"Wait a second I got a message from Takane"

-Hey Shintaro you idiot I can't continue right away something kinda came up so yeah in the afternoon we continue-

"Haa… that's weird what could have happened to her…"

Since the supermarket was really close to a small arcade Shintaro could hear some shouts from over there.

"Ene-sama! Ene-sama! Ene-sama! Ene-sama! Ene-sama! Ene-sama! Ene-sama!"

"O-o-okay you punks who wants to go first I'll beat you all one by one hahahahaahah!"

"WHOAAAAAA! Ene-sama! Ene-sama! Ene-sama! Ene-sama! Ene-sama! Ene-sama! Ene-sama!"

"W-what the… so that's what happened…anyway"

"Umm Shintaro-kun? Is everything alright?"

"Y-yeah"

"S-s-so…are you busy today? Did you have plans or can we hug- I mean meet! Meet right away?"

"Ah n-no I mean I was just playing some online games with Takane"

"Oh then I don't want to interrupt"

"No I mean not anymore tough, she won't be back till afternoon so I'm free for the rest of the day at least we can continue playing videogames at night anyway when she gets back from her… uhmm…thing"

"Oh okay…then let's meet today! Where are you right now?"

"I'm at the supermarket the one near the arcade, buying some soda and things to eat"

"Then wait for me there I'll get there before you finish buying your stuff!"

"O-okay"

"Bye then!See you in a few minutes

"O-okay I-I'll be waiting here"

Shintaro's face was bright red until he heard some guys talking near him.

"Hey did you hear Ene is in the arcade!"

"Hoooo I want to challenge her to a match then!"

"I think she already beat 15 guys in a row though"

"Let's go before she leaves then quickly!"

Shintaro couldn't help but laugh a little at the situation.

"Seems like she's on fire today"

Shintaro then entered the supermarket to buy the things he went there to buy. First was his soda (obviously) and then Momo's apple juice. He then went to the snack section and bought some chips for the day and for the night for his gaming session with Takane (if she even made it back in time with all those guys asking for a match with her). He then thought about buying something for her she might be tired also because she couldn't really buy anything if she is busy competing with her fans, so he bought extra sodas for her and some juice for Ayano.

Then Shintaro got a text from Ayano.

-hey I'm here already I'll wait for you outside kay? =) -

"…"

Ba-dump, ba-dump.

"Dammit heart not again! C-calm yourself…"

Shintaro then went to the entrance after paying for all of the drinks and snacks he bought to meet Ayano and there she was, waiting for him and at the moment she saw him she started waving at him with a smile as big as his love for soda.

"H-hi Shintaro-kun"

"H-hi"

"B-by the way Shintaro-kun where are we going to do the project?"

"Oh yeah we didn't decide over the phone…"

"Then your house because I want to see your room!"

"W-what, because of that?"

"Also because we shouldn't leave Momo-chan alone so much time, my brothers are fine since dad is at home"

"Y-yeah I guess you are right"

"Oh yeah how is Takane doing by the way?"

"She is fine; she is actually pretty close right now wanna go see her?"

"Really? Okay let's go then!"

Shintaro and Ayano then proceeded to the arcade where Takane was in some kind of game tournament with her fans. It was pretty noisy.

"Hey Taka- I mean Ene-chan!"

"Whoa how did you guys know I was here!?"

"I could hear your fans shouting from as far as the supermarket, here I bought you this I thought you might be thirsty"

"Hey thanks you can actually be pretty nice if you try you see?"

"S-shut up and just drink it"

Then one of the fans went to speak to Takane.

"Ene-sama are these people acquaintances of you?"

"(Whispering) Ene-sama? Hey Shintaro-kun what is this all about is Takane-chan famous?"

"(whispering) Yeah something of the like tough she is famous as Ene not Takane"

"Ahhhh ehhh aaahmmm y-yeah they are y uhhhhmmmm… my comrades! Yeah they are uhhhmmm Shiragi-kun thunder sniper and Taya-chan thunder driver!"

"Ouh crap…" (Shintaro)

"Hehe Taya-chan I like that nickname!" (Ayano)

"N-no you don't know what this mean they are probably gonna think that we are gonna also play with them now and-"

"WHOAA! I never knew Ene-sama had comrades! Would you also please play with us some matches? Are you near as good as Ene-sama?"

"(Whispering) Pssst guys just go with it for now please so that we can actually get outta here already okay?" (Takane)

"Hahahahaha of course we will play you but in an official tournament! How does that sound to you all huh?" (Takane)

"WHOAAA! A tournament with Ene-sama and her comrades? Is Konoha-sama gonna be there too?"

"Y-yeah of course he's going to be there as well hahahaha so prepare yourself we will discuss the location and games in the blog we usually use okay?"

"YEAAAHHH!"

After all the ruckus the three of them were finally able to leave.

"Ahhhh sorry guys for dragging you along but I just couldn't think of another way to finally get outta there today… so Shintaro you teach Ayano how to play racing games since I said she was thunder driver and you and me will be playing shooters like always since it's our speciality and I'll see what type of game Haruka will be playing okay?"

"O-oi but when are gonna do it then we have to meet for this kind of thing" (Shintaro)

"Then let's make a club at school we can meet in Takane's and Haruka's classroom after classes anyway nobody else uses that class" (Ayano)

"A-Ayano you are okay with this? Have you ever played any racing games before?"

"None! But Shintaro-kun can teach me right?"

Shintaro could not say no to those adorable puppy eyes.

"O-okay then I'll teach you then… Takane try not to make it too soon so that the four of us can meet plenty of times before the tournament"

"Y-yeah leave that to me! Well then see you guys! So Shintaro, we will continue our gaming session today as practice for the tournament okay!? Put Ayano also on your side today on a match against me so that she can experience firsthand how a real match feels online okay? Ahh but don't be a jerk like always if she loses okay? Bye then!"

Takane then left running to her house.

"…"

"She looks a lot happier than usual" (Ayano)

"Yeah every time it's about videogames her personality changes a lot and she is way happier" (Shintaro)

"A-anyway shall we go now we have a lot of things to prepare for the project and also for the tournament right?"

"Y-yeah you are right"

Then the two of them headed to Shintaro's home. The walk was pretty awkward at first but then ayano started talking.

"Hehe Shiragi-kun thunder sniper… it's a cute nickname don't you think so?"

"S-shut up… Taya-chan…"

"Don't forget the thunder driver part!" said Ayano with a smile while doing a pose as if she was driving a car.

She's so cute thought Shintaro to himself. He could feel his face starting to blush a little.

"A-anyway remember you won't be driving a real car tough it's gonna be with a controller"

"L-like this?" Ayano put her hands mimicking a remote control of a TV.

"Ahh… no not quite I'll teach you when we get home okay?"

"Okay!"

"You look happy"

"Of course I get to be with you more time and with Takane and Haruka too"

"Y-yeah you are right tough it could be a little noisy at times in the tournament you know, "Ene" has a lot of fans, and I mean a lot of them, tons of them"

"Haha I never knew Takane-chan was that famous among gamers"

"Yeah its freaking ridiculous how many fans she has"

"So do you think we can win?"

"I guess if we have Takane it is always like a triumph card so yeah but it's the four of us so I don't really know for sure, one thing is for sure tough Takane is the best among us"

"But you beat her once remember at the gaming booth"

"Y-yeah but she is way better now at some games that I am not"

"Oh I see… I have to participate in racing games right, are those difficult?"

"Actually yeah… kinda really hard sometimes if you are against experienced people"

"T-then y-you will have to teach a lot of days then… can we me-meet of-often?"

"Ahhh ahh ehh y-y-yeah of course"

Both of them were blushing really hard now.

"Finally we arrived I'm dying from the heat outside already"

"Oh come on its not that bad"

They entered Shintaro's house and left the bags of soda's, juice and snacks on the table of the dining room before Shintaro went to hand Momo the juice she requested him to buy.

"Hey Momo I brought the orange juice that you wanted!"

"AAhhhh! Oni-chan I told you I wanted apple juice not orange juice!"

Momo came downstairs to get the juice from Shintaro while making a face of disgust over the juice.

"I know dummy I was just teasing you, here, your apple juice"

"Oh thanks- hey who is that?"

"Ah oh yeah she is Ayano a friend we are doing a science project together for school"

"H-hi I'm Ayano Tateyama nice too meet you"

"F-F-F-F-Friend?" (Momo)

"O-Oni-chan has a friend? And also a girl? Science project?!" (Momo)

"H-hey even I have friends you know" (Shintaro)

"A-anyway, nice to meet you Ayano-san" (Momo)

"Well we will be here doing the project or what we can for now at least so if you need something you can come here"

"… Oni-chan you seem way nicer than usual! Okay I'll be in my room watching some TV"

"Your sister is pretty cute Shintaro-kun"

"Yeah she is really annoying too you know"

"Haha that's not true she is pretty nice"

"Anyway let's start doing the project"

"O-okay look here… intellectual mode on!" Ayano pulled out a pair of glasses from her bag and put them on while pulling them up with her right hand.

Shintaro had to cover his face with his hands to cover all the blushing at that moment.

("Nope, she is too cute, too cute, way too cute, too much right now, cuteness overload, emergency I repeat cuteness overload")

"Y-you okay Shintaro-kun?"

"Y-yeah I'm fine …"

"O-okay, well actually last week I discovered that I kind of have slight bad eyesight so have to use glasses while reading books or things like that such as computer screens but any other moment it's not necessary"

("Great now it's gonna be every day we meet to study or practice for the gaming tournament")

"A-anyway let's think what kind of project we can do for the science festival"

"Okay!"

They sat down in the couch while talking about what kind of project they could do but without much of a conclusion they gave up in the end because their ideas were too complicated to get the materials or either were too simple.

"You know what let's ask a teacher better, I think I would be a better idea so that we can have an idea of what is simple to do but not to simple so that we can actually get top 5, because if we can't get the materials there's no point in choosing something we won't be able to make in time and I don't really know the prices for the materials of the projects I had in mind either"

"Y-yeah you are right then next time you come to my house and we can ask my dad hat could be like not that expensive but cool to make too"

"Y-yeah sounds good to me"

"Okay let's not lose any more time, start practice for the tournament we can't let Ene-chan down right we have to win as a team!"

"E-Ene-chan?"

"That's Takane's nickname right, or did I say it wrong?"

"N-no I just wasn't expecting you to call her Ene "

"We have to use our nicknames Shiragi-kun since Takane-chan gave them to us with all her love"

"I don't think it was exactly love as much as getting out of there as soon as she could so that she could go home already"

"But it's like we are the red thunders!"

"Huhh!?"

"Because you always wear your red jacket and I always wear my red scarf, and Takane gave us both the name thunder in our nicknames so we are the red thunders!"

"This is so embarrassing… let's just go and practice"

"Yay lets go Shiragi red thunder!"

"Uhh…"

They both entered Shintaro's room Ayano following him from behind and blushing a little, she still couldn't get that hug out of her mind.

"S-so this is your room Shintaro-kun… it's pretty cool I like it a lot"

"Where did the nickname go Taya-chan?"

"Oh yeah sorry Shiragi-kun!"

"Okay here this is the controller for the gaming console I'm gonna start the game and you will be in a race with me and 6 more cars that are gonna be the computer a.i. okay?"

"Okay! Ready whenever you need me to be!"

"Okay look this are the controls for the game, I'm gonna tell you which button you have to press to do each things in the game okay?"

("I never felt so nervous while playing a video game my heart is pounding extremely hard again goddammit not again heart seriously calm yourself already")

"O-okay I got it!"

"You sure you remember all of the controls?"

"Yes!"

"O-okay then let's start the race you are the red car and I'm the grey one, this is just like a normal race going from start to finish, there are no laps"

"Okay Shiragi-kun shows me your skills!"

They started the race and Ayano crushed into the wall right away but then started going after backing up and accelerating again. Shintaro was first right away after passing all the other competitors that were a.i. from the game. Ayano would always lean to one side every time she took a turn in the race and Shintaro would always blush when she leaned closer to him. After 2 minutes he noticed Ayano had passed two cars already and was sixth in the race. She was doing pretty well then it could be easier to train her for the tournament. After a few seconds Ayano was fifth and then fourth right away.

"Hey you are doing pretty well"

"Thanks Red-Thunder!"

"Huh huh"

Final standings in the race were: Shintaro first, computer1 second, Ayano third, computer3 fourth and so on until the eight which was also computer a.i.

"Okay you did pretty well actually for it to be the first time you are playing this game"

"Yeah I got praised by red thunder Shiragi-kun!"

"AAhhh seriously stop that it's so embarrassing!"

"Hehe lets go again shall we partner?"

"Okay let me just choose another map and another type of race, this time will be… okay with 3 laps you know what to do pass the finish line 3 times don't forget the race doesn't finish until you pass the finish line 3 times"

"I know!"

The race started and Ayano started pretty well without crashing into a wall this time. She was second the first minute but then she caught up to Shintaro and they were both first until the final lap.

"What the…" (Shintaro)

"Hey I'm second but just behind you I'm doing well right? Whooo take this!"

Ayano tried to tackle on of the computer a.i. but instead ended up tackling Shintaro's car and making him crush into a wall.

"H-hey what was that for!?"

"Ups sorry Shintaro-kun I was trying to do what I saw you do the last race against the computer!"

Final standings in the race: Ayano first, Comp2 second, Shintaro third, and so on up until the eight spot.

"…"

"I-I won right?"

"Y-yeah, actually you dominated the race…"

"So does that mean I'm good at this?" Ayano asked Shintaro with her eyes full of happiness.

"Y-yeah you are way better than just good" ("How the hell did she get so good if it's the first time she is playing this game")

"Thank you Shintaro-kun!"

Ayano then hugged Shintaro out of pure happiness from winning the race.

"W-why are you thanking me I didn't do anything you won the race"

"But you are the one who taught me how to play Shintaro-kun!"

"T-that's not really anything… let's just continue practicing for now the tournament won't be this easy we have to be prepared and I'm sure if its Takane its going to be pretty noisy and with lots of different gamers so you have to be able to compete in different type of races"

"Okay then let's continue training"

"Y-yeah… but I can't get the controller if you don't let go of me"

"Oh s-s-s-sorry Shintaro-kun I-I was too happy I'm not really good at that many things after all s-s-s-so"

"N-no I a-a-actually don't really m-m-mind tough"

"Hehe it's just like last time right? … (Low voice) I feel safer if I'm with you you know…"

"I-Is that s-so…"

"Heh! You heard that? I said that out loud!?"

"Y-yeah the part about feeling saf-"

"AAAHHH forget that toooo pleaseeee…this is so embarrassing… I'm going to the bathroom a little wait for me for the next race!"

Ayano's face was bright red just as Shintaro's face was also like a tomato.

"Dammit… cuteness overload again…"

"Well Takane's gonna be surprised when she plays against Ayano tough, let's see who wins that match"

Shintaro and Ayano continued practicing that afternoon.

* * *

Thats it for the first chapter n.n i hope you liked this if anyone reads it that is obviously =P


	2. Chapter 2 - Forming teams

Okay so new chapter, don't know if it is better or not, it is kinda different but what do i know =P

Again, hopes someone reads it xP if at least some people like it then i guess I'm happy

Also, excessive stuttering: fixed =D (i think lol)

This chapter i actually re-read it so i guess it should have less errors than the last one, well i guess that's it.

i do not own any of the characters.

i love writing though i never knew it was so much fun i really enjoy it actually.

* * *

Almost 3 hours have passed since they started playing racing games

"Okay that's enough races for today"

"Are we changing games now?"

"Yeah let's go eat first tough"

The two of them left the room after deciding they should eat outside, since they met so suddenly they didn't have anything prepared for cooking anyways.

They decided also to take Momo with them.

"Hey Momo we are going out to eat, come"

"I don't want to be third wheel, thanks though!"

"Just come idiot"

"Okay okay… so, where are we going?"

"I know a place that's a having a 70% discount on crepes today, should we go there?"

"Whoa 70? Are you serious?" said Shintaro with one eyebrow lifted.

"Sounds too good to be true" said Momo while getting her things ready for going out.

"Well yeah buts it's until they run out of it though and I don't think they would make that many if they are having a 70% discount on them, but they have other discounts today too so we could eat something else too there"

"Okay to that store quickly!"

Momo went out of the house running but came back right away.

"I forgot my hoodie! And now there's a crowd outside! So we are going out in a few minutes!"

The three of them talked about how this should be one of the last hot days this week since fall was starting to kick in, especially just Momo complaining that it was too hot using a hoodie in hot days but that it was inevitable since the crowds were too annoying otherwise.

They walked a few streets until they arrived at the shop Ayano told them about.

"Ohhh come on in come on in! Buy anything you like everything has a discount today, except for crepes though because we ran out!"

"Ahhh we arrived too late…" said Momo while sighing.

"Nah little missy everyone arrived too late today for the crepes sale…"

"What do you mean everyone?" asked Momo.

"Ahahahaha… a young boy came by really early and bought all of them even when they were not even ready yet…"

"All of them? Are you freaking kidding me who would do that" said Shintaro with a face of disbelief.

"Ah! You can still see the legend; he is sitting there, still eating"

"Ah guys good to see you here too!"

Haruka was there sitting with a table full of crepes.

"Haruka… should have guessed it would be you" said Shintaro while looking at the boy.

"Come sit with me the four of us can eat together come, come!"

"Shintaro-kun, Momo-chan you guys go sit I will go and see what we can eat okay?"

"Ahhh…thanks" Said Shintaro while sitting down right next to Momo.

"So… did Takane tell you already or what?"

"Amout mat" said Haruka while eating.

"About the gaming tournament"

"Oh that yeah she did mention something like that, she told me I could even use my character name so I should go dressed as Konoha right?"

"…I don't think that really matters"

"What gaming tournament are you guys talking about?"

Shintaro and Haruka explained the whole thing to Momo after she went with Shintaro to help Ayano carry the food to the table.

"Whoa that sounds fun, also lame, but kind of fun nonetheless"

"Yes, Takane really is famous she has even won some trophies in a few competitions" said Haruka

"Ohh… Oni-chan can I join too?"

"W-why do you want to join too, doesn't really seem like the kind of thing you would be interested in"

"I'm bored, I don't have anything to do besides being at home watching TV"

"What about going out with your friends Momo-chan?" said Ayano while looking at the girl.

"I don't have any"

"Ah i-is that so… I don't see a problem I don't think Takane-chan would mind either"

"Yeah but what kind of game are you good at?" said Shintaro while looking at her.

"Haaa… eehhhmmmm… rhythm games? Is that how they are called? The ones where you for example hit a note of music when it comes near you and the music keeps on playing"

"Ah I like those too" said Haruka while grabbing another crepe to eat.

"Then it should be fine I guess" said Shintaro while grabbing his soda.

"Ah! But Momo-chan don't say that you don't have any friends, we are all your friends here even if we just met today" said Ayano with a cheering look on her eyes.

"Oho really!? Already? Ah wait does that mean one of my only three friends is oni-chan? Whoa that's so lame…"

"Hey I'm right here…"

"Hey a question, how are going to compete though if they are individual games?" asked Haruka

"Ah you are right, let me ask Takane"

Shintaro pulled out his phone and started typing and then he quickly sent a message to Takane. She replied right away sending him a file with all the data; it was as if she were a cyber-girl or something like that because of how quick she was sometimes.

"She says it will be with groups of three, and after that a knockout stage"

"Huh? Groups of three, what do you mean oni-chan"

"Well first lets say there is group 1 with 3 people and group 2 with 3 people too, the two teams face each other and every member plays against only one member of the other group, then the team with 2 wins out of three matches wins the entire thing and the three participants from that group pass to next stage, but can't meet right away"

"And how many groups are there going to be?"

"Twelve groups of three"

"Wait doesn't that mean that there are 36 participants and 18 are going to pass to the next stage? Then how is the knockout stage going to be? Shouldn't it be only 16 participants to have 8 matches?"

"Yeah I thought the same but Takane said that it's better that way because the knockout stage will be consisting of 8 matches, every match a one on one, and she is going to play against the extra matches before actually getting to her spot on the 8 matches"

"I'm kind of confused already" said Momo.

"Yeah it's pretty weird let's just say there are 18 participants, numbers from 1 to 17 and also Takane, so 1 vs 2, 3 vs 4, 5 vs 6, 7 vs 8, 9 vs 10, 11 vs 12, 13 vs 14, and lastly it would be 15 vs 16 but in this case it will be 15 against the winner from a match between 16 against the winner between 17 and Takane"

"That was one long and boring explanation" said Momo with a tired face.

"Yeah but she said it was better this way because she will be playing more matches" said Shintaro.

"Wait if it is groups of 3, we are only 5 we need one more person" said Momo.

"I know someone who likes videogames and I think she would play with us" said Ayano.

"Who?" asked Shintaro.

"My sister, Kido Tsubomi, I think I can convince her to come, but wait how are we gonna decide on the members of each group?"

"Randomly! It's more fun that way! I'll make the papers with our names, then throw one at random to the left, that persona will be in group 1 and then one to the right and that persona will be in group 2"

"Okay sure it's less of a bother that way" said Shintaro with a cold expression on his face.

"Okay so… first one in group 1 is… Haruka-san, first one in group 2 is… Oni-chan, second one in group 1 is… me! Second one in group 2 is… Takane-chan, third one in group 1 is… Ayano-chan, and that would leave us with Kido-chan in group 2"

"Okay I'm going to text the groups to Takane, Haruka can you read them out loud?"

"Group 1 is Konoha-san, Momo-san and Ayano-chan, group 2 is Shintaro-san, Ene-chan and Kido-kun"

"Okay… she replied right away… "

-why am I stuck with the jerk and someone I don't even know ehhhh?-

"… I'm stuck with you too you know"

"Shintaro-kun don't be like that" said Ayano while looking at Shintaro.

"Well anyway we should get back to practice now and use what's left of the day on other type of games"

"Maybe Haruka could come too right?" said Momo.

"Yeah… are you free today?" asked Shintaro.

"Yeah free all day"

"Okay then come with us too" said Ayano.

"Whoa two friends in our house on the same day that's a record for the books" said Momo with a surprised look on her face.

"Sure is" said Shintaro with his eyes closed.

"Okay let's go!" said Momo as she run out of the store but went back in almost right away.

"Crowd?" asked Shintaro.

"Yep, crowd" said Momo.

"Hahahaha… let's wait a few minutes, don't forget your hoodie again Momo-chan okay?" said Ayano with a comforting look to Momo.

The four of them went back to Shintaro's house to keep practicing in his room, first would be checking how good Momo was at rhythm videogames so Shintaro put the only one had since he didn't really like those so that she could give it a try.

"Okay show us what you can do" said Shintaro while sitting down.

"Prepare to see something amazing!" said Momo with a confident look

Momo started playing the game with a very concentrated look on her face, and ended up getting a score of 87 out of 100.

"Hehe… so? Am I good or not?"

"Whoa Momo-chan you are so good!" said both Ayano and Haruka almost at the same time.

"Hehe… it's nothing that impressive!"

"It's my turn now then" said Haruka.

Since Haruka said he wasn't especially that good at any type of game the tried out every style of videogame they had there. Starting with the rhythm game he got 75 out of 100. Second was a football game in normal difficulty, he tied 2-2 and won on penalties 4-2. Third was a shooter game, he got 5500 points out of 8000 points. Fourth was the racing game, he got third place in the same difficulty as Ayano.

Last was a game they hadn't played before, it consisted basically of stealth, going from point a to point b without getting detected more than 10 times, and with 50 checkpoints, Haruka got detected 5 times.

"Okay so Haruka is the most balanced out of all of us" said Shintaro while looking at the rhythm videogame.

"Wait, what game are you bad at, oni-chan?"

"…The one you are good at" said Shintaro who then proceeded to play the game Momo had played and got a score of 45 out of 100.

"Whoa hohohoho that really sucked oni-chan I hadn't seen you fail in such a long time, well besides going outside, and sports, and socializing and-"

"Okay okay I get already, so what are you bad at uh?"

"Hmmm… sports games I guess?"

Momo then started playing the football game. She lost 6-1.

"See this game is so stupid!" said Momo with a weird look on her face.

"At least you scored one goal Momo-chan" said Ayano with a smile.

"Nah that was an own goal from the computer" said Shintaro.

"No way, I scored that goal!" said Momo while pointing at the screen

Shintaro then clicked replay on the highlights, it was indeed an own goal.

"See?" said Shintaro.

"Yeah I see 45-san" answered Momo.

"Haha… guys don't fight… it's my turn now" said Ayano while trying to stop the fight.

Ayano then played the football game. She scored two own goals.

She then played the rhythm game, and got a score of 59 out of 100.

Lastly she played the stealth game, she fell off the map trying to escape from the second guard.

"Hahaha…ha… can we please go back to racing games hehe…" said Ayano while leaving the controller on the table.

"Well besides us sucking at some type of games, I think we could reach the final" said Shintaro.

"Wait, why do you want to win this so much oni-chan? It's not like you at all" asked Momo.

"Because Takane just texted me about the prize" said Shintaro with a smirk on his face.

"There's a prize?" asked Ayano confused.

"Yes, and it's a 3 day stay at an inn near the mountains, you win 3 tickets if you reach the final, you guys could go skiing or something" added Shintaro.

"Whoaaa that's so cool I wanna go, wait but, what do you care about that? You don't like sports to be so into this tournament" asked Momo.

"By the way you said reach the final, then, we don't have to win? What's the prize for winning then?" asked Ayano still with a confused look on her face.

"The prize for winning is something kind of unexpected, it's a trip to the gaming expo with Takane" answered Shintaro.

"WHAT" asked Haruka.

"Y-yeah it's what her fans asked for as the price" added Shintaro.

"Wait and Takane-chan agreed to that? That's unusual" said Ayano.

"Yeah she sounded really confident, she said she wouldn't lose anyway so that it didn't matter what the prize was, but that she really wanted those tickets, cause the gaming expo is near the inn, also it is because of the entrance fee for the tournament that they were able to buy the prize"

"We have got to win this tournament" said Haruka with confidence.

"Whoa you sound way different now" said Shintaro.

"It's the power of love" added Momo.

Ayano just laughed to herself.

"Ah eh n-no I just really like… snow, I mean you know…"

"Yeah snow Enomoto I didn't know she changed her name… "Said Shintaro.

"So you want to go see the gaming expo too Shintaro-kun?" asked Ayano curiously.

"Yeah that is cool and all but there is something on the third day, kinda like an expo too but way less flashy and with less people, it's about time travel and theory of the strings"

"Oh is anyone famous going to be there?" proceeded to ask Ayano.

"Not really famous but, professor Hououin is going to be there" answered Shintaro.

"Oh I know him he has a lot of research in time travel theory" added Haruka.

"Yeah he is a little crazy though" added Shintaro.

"Well I think I'm going to go home now, Shintaro-san could I borrow this please?" said Haruka.

"What the shooter? Yeah take it I already have it installed, don't you already have one tough they are kind of like the same anyway"

"Ah yeah but I want to practice at home, to be able to reach the final I mean so that we can go see professor kyouma right? I mean his work is amazing after all and all haha" added Haruka laughing a little nervously.

"Ah yeah… just take it then" answered Shintaro while the two girls were just smiling teasingly at Haruka.

"So, I'm going back home now see you at school guys!" Haruka left the room.

"Well I guess I'm going to go watch some TV in my room then, see you soon Ayano-chan, hope we can win that prize, first trip with friends and to a snowy place…" Momo left the room too while still talking to herself.

"Ah… we are alone again Shintaro-kun"

"Ah yeah I guess we could study for a while now before Takane arrives home"

"Takane-chan?"

"Oh yeah I forgot to tell you she wants to play a race against you online today when she gets home"

"Ah I don't think I can beat Takane-chan"

"Well, don't worry about that for now, let's take advantage of every minute together and study a little"

"Okay… oh wait… let me get my glasses…hmm where did I leave them, oh here…huh? Shintaro-kun are you okay your face is really red…"

"I-I'm fine" ("Damn those glasses… actually bless those glasses")

"It's getting a little colder, it does seem like it was one of the last days of summer after all"

"Yeah it's a little colder" ("except for my face it's freaking burning right now")

"A lot of things happened today, I also got a text from Tsubomi-chan, she says she would like to meet you so that we could explain everything about the tournament and know who she is going to be playing with, she is a little of a scaredy cat sometimes though so I think she is a little nervous about it… Shintaro-kun you are really, really red are you sure you are fine?"

"Ah? I'm ah… yeah let's meet tomorrow"

"Is it okay if you go to my house tomorrow? I can prepare lunch for everyone, then we can practice with Tsubomi-chan and then even study, I'll even stick the glasses to my face so that I have to study all the afternoon since they are only for reading hehe"

"(low voice) that would look cute" ("Really, really cute…")

"Wha-! "

"Hm?"

"Uhmm t-thank you…" Ayano started blushing.

"For what?" ("Did I say something?")

"Ah? Eh n-no nothing forget it haha"

Ayano sat down besides Shintaro for some time while he explained some math formulas to her, they were like this for a while until she looked at him and began speaking.

"Thank you… (low voice)you look cute too"

"Hm? It's no big deal it's just studying"

"(Low voice) Ah? Did I say that out loud? "Said Ayano while covering her mouth with her hands.

"Are you okay?"

"Hah I'm a little cold, could I borrow that hoodie over there?"

"Yeah its fine I guess…" Shintaro grabbed the hoodie and passed it to Ayano, she put it on right away.

("Yes, now with this my face doesn't show so much and looks so red… ah… It smells like Shintaro…Ah he is still explaining but I just can't concentrate, I could die of embarrassment right now gosh")

"I guess we could take a break you look a little bored after all" Said Shintaro while looking at her.

"Heh? Me? No I'm fine really I was just thinking…"

"Thinking? About… your mom? Is she… alright?"

"Heh? M-mom? Yeah she is fine I mean I went to visit her today and…she was a little better, I mean a lot better she seemed really cheerful"

"Good… isn't that really good… are you okay? You look really red" ("Like I'm one to talk…")

"Ah yeah yeah fine fine! I just remembered my conversation with mom!"

"Ayano!"

"Huh!?"

"Remember you can… tell me or something like that… okay? I will listen and I guess …try to comfort you or that… kind of stuff"

"Ahh… well my conversation with mom was a little… weird I guess"

Morning time.

"Hi mom, how do you feel today?"

"A little better now that you are here, Ayano"

"Hehe, I was really worried you know, but now I think I can take it, I will take care of things while you are not at home, I don't feel anxious anymore and I won't again I have the strength now… I… won't make dad worry more than necessary anymore it's already enough with your sickness for him, I promise, mom"

"Haha don't get so worried I'll be fine I promise, but you really look more calm and confident did something happen?"

"Ah? Eh… I was at school and I started crying all of a sudden"

"And then…?"

"Then I decided that I would not give up no matter what hardship came into my life, or something like that I guess hehe, I even asked the nurse myself how you were doing and about the treatment you know she said that-"

"Wait!"

"Heh?"

"First tell me, the name I mean"

"Ahh ehh… I think it was Yukari-san or maybe Inaba-san you know the one with long black hair that is always around the-"

"Not the nurse dummy, the name of the boy you are thinking about!"

"Huh? How did you know I was Hug-"

"Aha! You are showing it all over you face Ayano, but boy you look happy he must be one hell of a cutie"

"Ah it's not like that I don't…"

"What he is not handsome?"

"Wha- N-no he is he is really cute at least for me but-"

"Pffft again hahaha"

"M-mom stop it"

"Okay okay I'll stop teasing you, but come on tell me his name *cough* cough*"

"Mom are you okay?"

"I can't *cough* really talk very well it kinda hurts sometimes *cough* lend me your phone so that I can *cough* write what *cough cough*"

"Okay don't talk anymore, here you can write here…"

"Thanks *cough*cough*… "

"…"

"Kisaragi Shintaro? Heeehhh… interesting very cute name by the way I like it… hey you even have a photo from a school trip together you look so happy with him"

"Hehhh!? Mom? What?"

"Haha Ayano you are bright red, you really like this boy then, then let me help you a little to get closer to him, is he nice to you?"

"Y-yeah he is nice, he came to comfort me while I was crying…even though I know it is hard for him because he doesn't know how to or doesn't have that much interaction with people but he still cared and stayed there, offered me help, and then wouldn't let me go when we were talking about the project, oh by the way I'm going to enter the school science festival with him so we exchanged numbers, he is also going to help me study so-"

"Hmmm… embracing each other, hugging, not letting go, ah the wonderful feeling of love right?"

"Wha-"

"Hehe Ayano… you really wanted someone to talk to about all this right? Its fine, don't let my sickness get in the way of us talking about your prince okay?"

"He is not my prince mom!"

"So since you are going to study with him, he seems really intelligent also, so I'm guessing he won't notice right away cause he will be too concentrated on studying and teaching you, so, here, in your phone, done! When you are studying with, when you can't concentrate anymore, which by knowing you will be pretty quick…"

"Mom!"

"I know, I know, but listen, just read it, and it will be task A, okay? You two will feel closer right away"

"Yeah but… why? You should be worried about yourself right now not me…"

"You are always my number one priority with your brothers…"

"Mom…"

"And also I can see you really, really like him cause your face looks like a tomato right now I mean look in a mirror and you will see exactly a tomato I mean-"

"M-mom!"

"Haha… Ayano… he is a good really good boy right? I really can feel it in your voice"

"Y-yeah"

"I hope he takes care of you a lot everyday"

"…"

"Why are you crying now? It's okay everything will be fine"

"Be-because you sound like you are going to leave me behind…"

"Come here give me a hug, don't cry anymore, it's gonna be fine I promise"

"Really?"

"Yes I swear, come on cheer up okay?"

*sob*"… okay"

"Why don't you come and visit me with your boyfriend next time? We could have a good time together talking and he could see my magic "make Ayano a red as a tomato in two minutes", maybe he can learn a thing or two from me"

"Mom he is not my boyfriend"

"He will be if you use my tip, kay?"

"Hehe you always make me smile somehow… please get better soon, I need… we need you at home, everyone, all of us"

"I will sweetie, I will pretty soon"

-Visit hours will resume in the afternoon in this section, please gather your things-

"Ah! I gotta get going mom, I'll see you soon, tell me if anything happens I'll come running right away and-"

"It's okay sweetie it's just the treatment of everyday, you will see tomorrow I'll be just as lively and tease you double about you Shintaro-kun"

"Hehe okay bye… love you"

"Love you too sweetie"

Back to present.

("Mom… I wonder what she wrote…")

Ayano searched for the note her mom had left her one her phone.

-Lamb-kun here is your mission from eagle-senpai, when you are right beside him, start getting sleepy like you are tired, lean to your side and pretend to fall asleep on his shoulder! His heart will melt for sure, good luck!El psy Kangaroo-

("As if I can do that…")

"Takane should arrive in like half an hour so until then what do we do?"

"AH! Ehh why don't we watch TV then?"

"Okay"

("Okay I can do this…")

"Ayano!"

"Huh?"

"Hey are you listening? Are you okay you seem really… distracted?"

"I'm sorry I was spacing out, did you say something?"

"Yeah if you weren't cold anymore"

"Hah… ehh no I'm not anymore"

"Huh okay then"

("Okay here goes!")

Ayano leaned a little to the right closer to Shintaro's shoulder but backed away right away.

("Nope nope nope nope nope no way")

Zzzzzzzz

"Huh?"

Zzzzzzz

Shintaro was fast asleep.

("Heh!? He fell asleep? What do I do now?")

"…"

"…He must be tired from today"

Ayano leaned over and rested her head on Shintaro's shoulder.

("I wonder… is it fine like this?")

"A-Ayano?"

"…" ("WHAT? He wasn't asleep?")

"S-shintaro-kun I thought you were asleep…"

"N-no my eyes hurt from looking at the computer screen so much so I closed them for a while"

"Ah I see…"

"Y-Yeah…"

("This is so embarrassing I can't even see his face from here…")

"Are you… sad?"

"Huh?"

"You know… about your mom I really want to help but I don't know what to say most of the time, I have never been really close with someone so… but I don't want you to… ahm, just keep smiling like always like everything is just fine, you have to tell others how you really feel… I guess"

"No I'm fine right now, really" ("Thanks mom your advice was really good after all…")

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah just a little thirsty hehe"

"I can go and get you something like soda or juice"

"No it's fine let's… stay like this for a while please"

"…okay"

"…"

Brrrp brrrrp Shintaro's phone started to vibrate. It was a message from Takane. They pulled away from each other and sat normally again.

"Ah! Eh… Takane arrived home already"

"Oh good! So now we play? It's getting a little late I should play this match and go home"

"Y-yeah let me just get the game ready"

"Right, I'll wait here"

"Here, the headset"

"Right, thanks"

"Hey Ayano, being bored to death by Shintaro?"

"Ah? No not at all hehe"

"You sound happy hmmm well anyway, it's a contest!" ("I guess I could be a little mean this time only to get her used to mean tricks and stuff like that")

"Okay I'm ready"

The race started with Takane and Ayano nearly together in first place, until Takane did a maneuver to tackle Ayano's car, but she quickly pressed the brake button reducing speed so that Takane would pass her, then the car did a little drifting and passed Takane after regaining control, Ayano had been passed by two cars but quickly regained first place"

"Wha-"asked Takane in the middle of the confusion since she crashed into a wall after trying to tackle Ayano and ended up 5th in the race.

The race ended up with Ayano first and Takane third.

"Whoa when the hell did you become so good at this?"

"I don't know I just started playing today… hehe"

"It's freaking amazing! I don't know if I should be happy or pissed cause you are better than me in a day though"

"That's not true Takane-chan you would beat me in any other game this is the only one I'm really good at…"

"Well let's continue on Monday after school, I need to rest for today, see you, say hello to mister bad attitude for me please"

"Haha okay bye Takane-chan"

Takane disconnected from the game.

"Well I think we have a pretty good chance of winning the tournament then if you are this good"

"Huh but what if I have to play another type of game?"

"Hmm I thought about that too but we will see later about that lets concentrate on the science project for today's night and tomorrow at your house"

"Oh yeah you are right, well then I'll see you tomorrow at my house!"

"Y-yeah…see you"

Ayano left and Shintaro went back to his room, he started playing the same racing game for no reason.

An hour passed and Ayano texted him.

-What a crazy day Shintaro-kun I had a lot of fun-

-Yeah all because of Takane's fandom-

-Hahahahaha yeah that's true… so thanks for today, for the compliment I mean-

("I guess she means the videogame")

-I'm not complimenting, it's the truth you are really good at that game-

-Hehehe thanks again Shintaro-kun, well see you tomorrow let's meet at the supermarket again okay?-

-Okay-

("What a tiring day, well it was pretty interesting though… can't get those glasses out of my mind though for some reason")

"Hey Momo let's go eat dinner"

"Okaaaay be right there!"

Ayano's room

"Ahhh… better not forget this tomorrow…hehe"

Ayano left the glasses on a desk right beside her bed. She slept with an honest smile, that she hadn't had in a while.

"Goodnight mom…" Ayano murmured as she fell asleep.

* * *

Well that was chapter two i hope someone actually enjoyed this n.n

Shouldnt take me that long the next chapter i think so but anyway thanks for reading if someone actually reads it n.n


	3. Chapter 3 - Meeting new friends

Oh god this chapter took me a lot of time to write ._. Well i hope it being more extensive than the other ones makes someone happy!

There are some references in this chapter so i hope someone actually gets them, i put a few of them anyway so at least one should be like easy to notice, also there might be some grammatical errors but it is too long to re-read... seriously...

Also to anyone who takes time from their precious time to read this o review this, thanks from the bottom of my heart... really thanks =D

Anyway like always:

I do not own any of the characters.

Enjoy reading this chapter i hope it is not too boring because it is too long or something like that. this story is actually pretty long lol

* * *

It was 9 in the morning. Shintaro wakes up after hearing his cellphone vibrate. It was a message from Ayano.

-Hey morning n.n, are we meeting today after all?-

-Yeah at the supermarket right?-

-Yeah, I'm going to buy things for lunch there so let's meet inside okay?-

-Okay I'll help you then-

-Thanks =D is 11:30 okay?-

-Yep, seems fine to me-

-kay see you =P-

"Well I guess I should get ready, prepare breakfast first then since mom must be still sleeping…"

A voice was heard under Shintaro's bed.

"It is done already!"

"Whoa!"

"You have to learn the ways of a ninja yet"

"Momo…what the hell are you doing under my desk… you almost gave me a heart attack"

"I'm ninja Momo!"

"Yeah yeah…"

"Oh come one I'm bored…"

"Let's just go eat already"

"Okay"

The two of them ate breakfast together, Momo was telling Shintaro about a ninja movie she had seen on TV when she woke up and so hyped about it that she wouldn't stop talking about it.

"Can we go see the new one when it comes out?"

"Yeah I guess so… well I gotta go now tough, tell mom I went to do a science project, I' going to be back for dinner though

"Yeah I'm okay, wait are you going to see Ayano-chan?"

"Y-yeah why?"

"Let me prepare you then!"

"Wha-"

"Your hair I mean let me do something cool with it"

"N-no way"

"Come on please…"

"No"

"… if you don't let me I'll go with you and draw a crowd around you, I know how much you hate those so it's going to be sooooo much fun for you and then-"

"Okay okay I get it already just do it quickly and not something too ridiculous"

"Yay!"

Momo dragged Shintaro to her room and she started right away gathering some hair products. She then started giving form to his hair little by little until she was almost done.

"You are going to… look… soooo… cool with this… oni-chan!"

"… ahh" Shintaro sighed

"Pffft" Momo couldn't contain her laugh.

"W-what is it?"

"Here look!" said Momo while she handed Shintaro a mirror.

"Holy crap…"

"Hahahaha, what is it, Isaaaaac?"

"…"

"Ah come on oni-chan you are supposed to say now "What is it Miiriiiiaaaa?" okay?"

"W-what is it Miriiiiaaa- wait what am I playing along with you what the hell how am I supposed to go out like this!"

"Hmmm I don't think it will go down right away because I used too much of this product, but just wear a hoodie it's kind of cold outside also so it should be fine"

Shintaro just sighed. He went to get his black hoodie and left the house. Momo started yelling from the window to outside of the house.

"Byeeee Isaaaaac"

"S-shut up!"

"Hehehehe"

("Well I guess it is fine since it is a little cold, what the hell is up with the weather yesterday was so freaking cold though, it must have been like one the last days of summer I guess")

Shintaro walked the same road he did the last time he went to the supermarket. He started remembering Ayano, talking with her, playing videogames with her, her glasses; he wondered what she picked for today as clothes because it was a lot colder than yesterday")

He finally arrived at the supermarket and started looking for Ayano at the drinks section of the supermarket, until he heard a voice from behind.

"H-Hi S-S-S-Shintaro-ku-ku-kun… it's a little... co-co-cold today isn't it?"

Ayano was wearing some short sleeved shirt and a skirt"

"Ah yeah… you look really cold are you okay?"

"Y-y-yeah I'm to-to-totally fi-fi-"

"Okay enough of that here take this you can't even talk from the cold"

Shintaro gave his hoodie to Ayano

"NO, I mean it… it-it's okay you are going to be cold"

"No I'm wearing a long sleeved shirt and jeans at least so it should be fine"

"Okay I normally would say n-n-no but… I'm really cold… so I'll take it but only this time okay?" Ayano's voice was becoming more like usual as she put on Shintaro's hoodie.

"Ahhh… it's already warm since you were wearing it… so warm" Ayano had a look of happiness and relief on her face.

"Huh…"

"Okay then Shintaro-ku-"

"W-What?"

"Whoa what's with that hair? A new look? It looks so different…"

"Momo did it…"

"Hehe so it was kind of like a prank?"

"Yeah I guess so"

"Well you look cute so don't worry!"

"Ah… thanks"

"Y-yeah…" Ayano started looking somewhere else as if trying to hide her face from his sight.

"Uhmm lets go buy some things to make lunch okay?"

"Yes that seems good I guess"

Both of them started looking for the ingredients together, it was mostly Ayano talking while Shintaro was just listening to her ramble about things that just came up to her mind, like movies she had seen just like Momo or about some new series she started watching.

"So hey Shintaro-kun what do you think the person who wins the tournament would want to do for the date with Takane-chan?"

"She would have to lose for that to happen first"

"Yeah I know, but in case she actually lost, how do you think it would be like?"

"Hmmm I don't know much about that stuff but I guess since they would be getting tickets to the inn and they are into videogames so much I would guess going to the gaming expo together"

"Hmmm that does sound kind of cute"

"How?"

"I don't know since they like it so much"

"Yeah I guess so it is a pretty good expo too"

"And then, are they showing something like movies or something like that too there?"

"Actually yeah they are showing a horror movie in the same screen as the expo later on"

"Oh that sounds really good for a date with Takane-chan though I don't know if she gets scared too much, and maybe then they could go to the snow and start star gazing"

"Yeah I guess so"

"What else do you think they could do?"

"Maybe have some hot chocolate at night while talking at the sofas of the inn, I don't know something cliché like that I guess"

"Oh yeah that sounds so romantic!"

"It's kind of nice actually I guess" said Shintaro with his usual expression.

"And what else do you think we could do later?" asked Ayano expectantly.

Shintaro's heart started racing a little faster after the question Ayano made, since he thought about them doing all that stuff and going on a date.

"We ahmm… we could…" Shintaro started blushing really hard.

Ayano realised what she said differently in the last sentence after he repeated "we".

"Hah! N-no forget that, I mean I didn't mean that… I meant huh… you know…"

"Y-yeah…"

"Yeah…"

Shintaro looked away and started talking again after a moment of awkward silence.

"Maybe we should go see that horror movie, since it is new and we are going to stay there for three days after all"

"Really? The four of us? Or… just… you and me?"

"Well we have to win first so if only one of us wins we get only 3 tickets though so we couldn't go the four of us…"

"S-so for example if only you win… then it would be only us and another person like Momo or Takane or Haruka?"

"I guess so"

"Then… lets go watch that movie, Shintaro-kun, also lets make sure two of us reach the final so that all of us can go there okay?"

"Yeah I really want to win to go there, also for the science expo"

"Yeah now the movie can be something to kill time with me after that!"

"It's another reason to reach the final then"

"Yes! We will reach the final then!"

The two of them walked out of the supermarket after having bought everything they needed for lunch. The day was getting a little colder now since it was already 12:30, and Shintaro was starting to feel it too.

"Are you sure you don't need your hoodie?"

"Yeah I'm fine"

After they had already walked almost half of the way to Ayano's house Shintaro looked really cold. Ayano was starting to get worried he might get sick because of her.

"Here take back your hoodie!"

"N-no I told you already… I'm fi-fi-fine"

"…"

"Achoo!" Shintaro sneezed slightly.

"AH! You are cold after all!" Ayano said as she went closer to him.

"It's okay I tell you"

"No, you have to be warm too…"

Ayano looked like she was thinking about something and looked also a bit embarrassed about it. After a moment she hugged Shintaro.

"L-like this you won't be cold anymore"

"…" Shintaro was a little shocked he wasn't expecting that.

After a minute Ayano started talking again.

"D-do you feel better?"

"Y-yeah I'm fine now, though we can't really walk like this…"

"Y-yeah I know lets just hurry so that we won't be out anymore like this, it is too cold for this kind of clothes"

"Yeah lets hurry up a little"

They started talking again about Ayano's mom, Shintaro just asked her in his usual awkward way as always and she just started explaining him that she couldn't visit her today because of her treatment, visits weren't allowed every day of the week, but that they constantly texted each other so that she still knew how her mom was doing today.

Beep beep. Ayano's phone got a text message, it was from her mom.

-Yo task numbah two here yo, when you are walking with him try to get a piggyback ride from him, all you gotta do is twist your ankle slightly obviously, I guess I don't know it's what I did with your dad-

("What the hell how am I supposed to do that this is getting so ridiculous mom that is way too crazy")

"Are we close now?" asked Shintaro pointing in the direction they were going.

"Yes we are pretty close now…" ("Ah what the heck here goes ")

Ayano stepped clumsily on purpose; she twisted her ankle just slightly.

("Wait… I could have just faked it god dammit mom! I can't think straight when I am so nervous")

"Oi are you ok?"

"Yeah hehe… I just twisted my ankle a little; I'm a little clumsy today"

"Can you walk?"

"I think so it hurts a little bit though"

"Want me to get a cab?"

"No we are too close for that now"

"Huh… then here I'll carry you I guess"

"Ah? Are you sure?"

"Yeah, just hope it's not that much I don't have the best condition either so…"

"N-no it is fine I can walk…"

Ayano started walking and made a face of pain while closing her eyes.

"S-see? Totally completely fine" said Ayano while standing on one foot only.

"Huh… just grab onto my back already…" said Shintaro while sighing.

Ayano accepted the piggyback ride from Shintaro. She could feel her heart starting to pound faster by the minute.

("Thanks mom… I don't even mind the little pain in my foot now… such bliss")

"You are really light you know"

"Really?"

"Yeah and you are really calm sometimes Momo made me carry her like this and she would just not stop moving and doing things to my face while we were moving"

"Haha that does sound like her, she really loves you I guess…"

"I think she was just being noisy like always"

"I know she really cares for you though"

"Yeah I guess so too"

"Look we arrived already Shintaro-kun that's my house"

"Okay I'm going to put you down now try to step on your good foot"

"Okay…"

Ayano was standing again and she noticed her brother came out to meet them.

"Hey Shuuya-kun I brought a friend home he is Shintaro, Shintaro he is Kano Shuuya one of my brothers"

"Hey" said Shintaro with his usual cold expression.

"Hey… hey Nee-chan why was this guy carrying you on his back?"

"Ah I twisted my ankle a little bit on the way home so he carried me…"

"Hmmm… Hey are you planning to take Nee-chan away from us!?"

"Wha-" Ayano was a little shocked at that.

"I won't let you though…" Kano ran out from the entrance to the backyard of the house.

"Ahaha… sorry Shintaro-kun he is a little possessive I guess…"

"Yeah I guess so"

"So lets go inside so you can meet Tsubomi-chan"

"Okay, I wonder how she is"

"She is really cute! And a little scaredy-cat sometimes like I told you before"

Ayano and Shintaro went inside the house. They said hi to kenjirou that was working on his computer and Seto that was watching TV. Ayano introduced them to each other.

"So Kisaragi, are you here for the science project?"

"Y-yeah…"

"Are you sure it is nothing else like with my daughter?"

"N-no I mean… huh…" said Shintaro as he was just glancing at the computer's screen.

"You interested in this? It's just some programming work I do"

"N-no it is actually pretty good I would have never come up with something like this…"

"Ah ahaha you think so? I am pretty good after all hahaha" said Kenjirou with a confident look.

"Yeah it is seriously amazing… this would reduce lag so much if I used it for my project…"

"Hahaha I know right I came up with this yesterday night and didn't sleep at all doing it so I'm a little sleepy right now but it was worthy"

"You could use this here though…"

Shintaro wrote something on a piece of paper and handed it to Kenjirou.

"Ah… you are right it is pretty useful, you are good too Kisaragi…are you planning to be a programmer?"

"Y-yeah maybe I don't know yet"

"Aha, I like this kid Ayano why don't you marry him already?"

"Wha-"Ayano started blushing.

"Haha just kidding anyway you wanted to ask me what you should do for the science project right, though I think you have your answer right there don't you?"

"Programming something?"

"Yeah why don't you two make something like that it doesn't cost much I mean you just have to use your computer and you already have the abilities from what I saw"

"But I don't know anything about that… and I want to help too…" said Ayano with a worried look.

"You can give him all of the ideas and testing before presenting it, I kind of have the idea that you don't really know what to create right Kisaragi?"

"Y-yeah actually I don't know what anyone else would like to use"

"Oh I know of something that would be useful in a computer!" said Ayano while grabbing Shintaro's arm.

"So, there you have it, you give the ideas, and he makes them into the program, you test it and tell him what else it needs or should have, and he adds it, also you draw the designs and choose the colors and all that stuff, and he does it, then you will be the best pair at this, also it will be really cheap compared to other projects"

"That sounds like a good idea" said Shintaro while looking at Ayano.

"Yeah I like it too, lets go meet Tsubomi-chan now she should be in her room"

"Good luck, I'll be here working on this in the meanwhile if you need me"

"Thanks dad!"

"Yeah…"

The two of them went to Kido's room and knocked on the door. It seems she was playing some videogames on her computer; she opened the door to greet the two of them.

"H-hi…"

"Hey Tsubomi look he is Shintaro, my friend I told you about, you are on his team for the tournament!"

"Hey" said Shintaro with his hands inside his pockets.

"H-hey…" said Kido shyly.

"So can we practice in your room Tsubomi-chan?"

"Yeah… come in…"

They entered Kido's room and Ayano started talking.

"So then… you should try the stealth game I think it would suit you best"

"Oh yeah I almost forgot I brought it with me, here…" said Shintaro.

They started playing the same stealth game they were playing with Haruka and Ayano the day before. It was a match between Ayano and Kido first. The result was Ayano spotted 10 times (lost) in 50 seconds and Kido spotted 3 times and completed the level in 2 minutes.

"See I told you she is good"

"Okay play with me now"

"O-okay" said Kido while still looking at the screen.

They started a level that was a little more difficult. This time they needed to complete the level in less than 3 minutes and the maximum of times to get spotted was 12 times, having 20 checkpoints. They started and Kido started pretty well but got spotted 2 times before the first checkpoint, Shintaro didn't get spotted though. They finished the level and Shintaro finished in 2 minutes and 30 seconds, getting spotted only 5 times, while Kido finished in 2 minutes and 50 seconds while getting spotted 8 times.

"You are good actually but it did feel a little weird are you sure you were trying your best?" asked Shintaro while looking at the score.

"Tsubomi-chan, if it is stealth I thought you would be a lot better, is there something wrong by any chance?" asked Ayano while looking at her sister.

"K-Kano told me it was cheating if I used my ability all the time…"

"Huh I see… I don't know that could be true but it is not like you did something like hitting him while you were playing or actually cheating…" said Ayano while sitting down beside her.

"I actually don't think it is cheating, if is an ability of yours use it as you like, it is something unique you know you should take advantage of it, so just go all out from now on with it" said Shintaro while looking at Kido.

"Yeah Shintaro is right, it is one of your good qualities!" said Ayano encouraging Kido.

"O-okay then I'll do it on the next match" Kido looked more concentrated than before.

The match started and Kido didn't get spotted before the first checkpoint like the last time, Shintaro didn't get spotted either. The match continued much like that until Shintaro got spotted at the 5th checkpoint, but Kido still had to get spotted. The match ended with Kido getting a perfect score of 0 times getting spotted and finishing in 2 minutes and 10 seconds and with Shintaro getting spotted 4 times and finishing in 2 minutes and 30 seconds.

"Wow…that was really good" said Shintaro.

"See I told you she would be good at this!" said Ayano looking really proud of her sister.

"T-thanks…"

"I'm glad you are in my team; let's see how you are at other types of games okay?"

"Okay!" Kido looked a lot happier

Kido did almost as good as Shintaro in the shooter game, she also did pretty well in the racing game but no so well in the rhythm game, sports game were her weakness but she wasn't that bad either, she was pretty balanced in terms of gaming skills.

"Whoa with this your team must be really strong Shintaro-kun, if you have Takane-chan also besides from Kido" said Ayano.

"Yeah I think we should pass pretty comfortably the first stage"

"T-thou hast established a new bond…" said Kido in a low voice.

"Haha… social link at level 1… let's try to reach level 10 okay?" said Shintaro while looking at Kido.

"Huh! I uhmmm… okay!" said Kido while hiding her face with a scarf.

"Hmm? What are you guys talking about?"

"N-nothing…" said Kido while looking at a videogame she had on her hand.

"Well we should start thinking about our science project Ayano"

"H-here Kisaragi-san your game" said Kido while giving him back the stealth game.

"You can keep it if you want, as a gift of welcome to the team" said Shintaro.

"R-Really?" Kido had a look of happiness on her face.

"Yeah so keep practicing so we can reach the final"

"I will…"

"So… I will!" Sang Shintaro as if it was the start of a song.

"Buuuurn my dreeeead!" answered Kido right away.

"Whoa was that a song? Do you two know that song, wait how did you know you two knew it if you just met today this is so confusing…" said Ayano while looking at the two of them.

Kido started blushing it seems she didn't realise she sang along with Shintaro all of a sudden.

"I-I'm going to practice!" Kido said as she went back to her room.

"Whoa that was weird…" said Ayano while looking to Kido's room.

"Yeah she is pretty good at the game like you said she would be after all"

"Yeah… well now… I'm going to make lunch!"

"Huh…"

"Come we can make it together!"

"I don't really cook much you know…"

"It doesn't matter I just want you by my side you know…"

"By your… side?"

"N-Nothing!"

"Wha-"

"I said nothing nothing forget it! Just come help me okay?"

"Okay…"

"Oh I almost forgot I have to use my glasses today like I promised"

"Huh…"

"Hey you look red again are you okay?" said Ayano while getting closer to him.

"S-shut up…it's nothing okay?" said Shintaro as he turned around facing the other way.

("Does he like them… does he blush every time I put them on…if it is like that then I should wear them more often I guess… ahhhh crap now I'm blushing I can feel my face is red again like yesterday…")

Ayano started cutting some ingredients into tiny pieces and then heating up some water. She continued cooking while Shintaro just stood there watching. She eventually asked him for help cutting some carrots. They eventually were done cooking when everyone else got there and sat down to eat.

"So Nee-chan cooked it looks really good" said Seto while looking at his plate.

"Yes but he should not eat of her food he doesn't deserve it, too much of a loser" said Kano while looking at Shintaro.

Kido hit Kano's arm with her spoon.

"Don't be like that to our visitors Kano" said Kenjirou.

"But he is trying to take Nee-chan away from me!"

"No he is not idiot" said Kido while hitting him a little more.

"You are just happy cause he gave you a videogame…"

"No I'm not I want to win the tournament too…"

"Okay guys don't fight over that please…" said Ayano.

"Lets just eat guys… haha… calm down please" said Seto.

"This is really delicious" said Kenjirou.

"Yeah it is good" said Shintaro.

"Thanks guys" said Ayano.

"Hey dad likes it so much he put his face on the plate" said Kido while looking at Kenjirou.

Zzzzzzz…

"Ah! He fell asleep, lets take him to bed, Kousuke, Shuuya help me get him to his bed" said Ayano while lifting Kenjirou from his chair.

"I'll clean the plates for now…" said Kido while looking at Shintaro.

"O-okay, want me to help?"

"N-no it's fine, rest for now… T-thanks for the game by the way…" Kido hurried to the kitchen while covering her face again this time with her hoodie.

"Ah… yeah…" said Shintaro just as Ayano got back from helping her dad get to bed.

"Hehe dad can be a little like that when he doesn't sleep doing his programing stuff"

"Yeah I think I understand I have done it too…"

"So… what do we do now?

"Lets do our project… right?" asked Shintaro.

"Yeah, what do we do first?" asked Ayano.

"I guess you tell me what things you would like to have on your computer, that would help you and stuff like that"

"Okay I think I have an idea of something I always wanted but haven't found as a program"

"Okay lets see what it is, tell me all about it, and then we will see how much of it we can actually make"

The two of them talked for a while at the livings room sofa about their project and the idea Ayano had while Shintaro thought about how much of it he could actually do with his abilities.

"Okay so I guess that's everything we can do for today it is getting a little late after all and I have to be back for dinner" said Shintaro while picking up his notebook with all of the things Ayano told him as ideas.

"Yeah, here take your hoodie back, see you again tomorrow at school!" said Ayano while giving Shintaro his hoodie.

"Yeah see you" said Shintaro as he left Ayano's house.

"Bye Shintaro-san" said Kido that was grabbing something to drink while Shintaro was leaving.

"Yeah don't touch the TV at midnight you could fall in it" said Shintaro jokingly.

"Y-yeah careful with the fog too you could find someone hanging from an antenna hehe…" said Kido right away after Shintaro's joke.

"Hmm what was that?" asked Ayano curiously.

"A-anyway I gotta go now…" said Shintaro as he left the house.

"See you at school tomorrow then!" shouted Ayano.

"Y-yeah"

("That was a pretty relaxed day, I guess except for her brother…")

Shintaro went back to his house after that and after eating dinner, which was pretty noisy mainly because of Momo telling their mom about his date with Ayano and him insisting it was just a science project and not a date and then their mom asking question and both her and Momo teasing Shintaro all dinner long.

Shintaro went to his room and took out his notebook to check some of the notes he made with Ayano and started testing out his ideas on his computer. After two hours he was pretty tired though.

"I guess that should be enough for today I'll show this to Ayano tomorrow at school, I hope she goes to school wearing those glass-"

"…You can't sense the ninja Momo…"

"M-Momo get out already!"

"So oni-chan is into girls with glasses…interesting good taste I guess"

"S-shut up just go already"

"Hehe it is fine really she must look cute in those, right?"

"Ahh… y-yeah I guess…"

"So I guess the hair style worked then?"

"Huh I almost forgot about that I am going to take revenge on that one let me just… do some cool hairstyles for you too" Shintaro got up as Momo started to get up too.

"Ahahaha oni-chan noooo leave it please! I'm sorry not again I swear you looked cool anyway!" Momo ran away from Shintaro's room while he was holding some hair products he took from her room.

They played like that for a while until Momo had some weird hair style and she sat right besides Shintaro and started talking.

"Hehe it's been a while since you played like that with me… like how many years… oh wait never duh it's oni-chan after all when does he do this kind of thing"

"S-shut up…"

"I'm happy you met Ayano-chan, you seem a lot happier with her"

"…" Shintaro started blushing.

"Hohooo… is this love I sense?" asked Momo with a smile.

"L-lets just go to sleep already it's pretty late…"

"Okay… but you better tell me if something happens between you two!"

"Yeah yeah…"

Shintaro went to sleep after that. He had a dream were he and Ayano were trapped inside an online RPG and couldn't get out until they cleared a 10 floor dungeon, they made it out safely though, but just before meeting again in the real world he woke up.

"Ahhh what the hell was that dream…"

("Wait… no ninja Momo today?") Shintaro checked under his desk, Momo wasn't there though.

"Ahh thank god…"

Shintaro went to the bathroom to brush his teeth.

"Horyaaaa!" Shouted Momo as she jumped in front of him.

"AHHHH!"

"Told you, you can't predict ninja Momo's movements!"

"Agh…ahh… you are going to give me a heart attack at this rate seriously…"

"Hehe, oni-chan remember to take your lunch with you okay it is at the table okay?"

"Yeah thanks…just… don't scare me again"

Shintaro left the house to go to school. The day was just as cold as the day before, this time he took one of his hoodies and put it in his bag in case the day would get even colder. Classes were normal as usual just paying attention some times and talking to Ayano, eating lunch with Takane and Haruka later and then some more classes until they were over, then they decided to meet in Takane's and Haruka's classroom to practice a little for the tournament, but only Haruka was there because Ayano and Takane had gone to buy some things at the store near the school.

"Ah hey Shintaro" Haruka was dressed as his character Konoha.

"Whoa what is that?"

"It is my costume for the tournament I am going as Konoha like I told you remember?"

"Yeah I think so…"

"Yep, and guess what, I got a surprise for you too!" said Haruka with a cheerful but calm expression as always.

"W-what is it?" asked Shintaro with some weird face.

"Here, I got you the same clothes but a little different, the pants are red and also have some red lines over the black part at the bottom… Then we can go with the same clothes to the tournament isn't that cool?"

"No way, I'm not wearing that…"

"Ah, come on, I thought you would like it they look so cool…"

"Agh… n-no how would we go like that?"

"Come on I don't want to be the only one with Takane wearing our characters outfits… please? I'll even invite you to dinner we can eat all we want at one store I found the other day for only-"

"Okay okay I'll try them on but don't expect me to go like this though"

"Haha thanks Shintaro" said Haruka with his usual happy expression.

Shintaro put on the clothes Haruka gave him. They were basically the same as Konoha's clothes but as Haruka said the pants were red and the headphones too.

"Wow we look the same now, so cool!"

"Huh… hey where are Ayano and Takane shouldn't they be back already?"

"Huh yeah you are right, lets go search for them"

"Wait, Haruka we can't go out like this…"

"It is fine come on lets go Shintaro"

"Ah! wait no-"

Shintaro was dragged to the entrance of the school. He could feel the girls glancing at both of them and talking, some of them even laughing a little. God it was embarrassing for him. One of them took a picture with her cellphone and then another one and then another one and so on.

("Dammit Haruka why…")

"Oh hey look there they are… they are with some guys though… who are they?"

"Hmm…" Shintaro looked the way Haruka was pointing at.

There was a blond student talking to them while his friend just stood there waiting.

"Soooo… how about we discuss this more over some tea?"

"Lets just go kida-kun…"

"Ahh they went away… it is because of that depressing expression of yours Mikado…"

"Yeah yeah lets just go I'm pretty hungry already"

"Yes yes, let your friend treat you to something today!"

"Yeah"

The two boys left the school. Ayano and Takane noticed Haruka and Shintaro standing near the entrance and went up to them to tell them what happened.

"Huuhhhghhh… finally we could get away that guy would just not stop about going out for some tea with us… " Said Takane while sighing.

"Hehe I thought they were funny …" said Ayano with a smile.

"Anyway, what the hell is up with you guys, what are you wearing?" asked Takane pointing at them.

"Isn't it cool Takane?" asked Haruka while showing her his clothes.

"Y-yeah I guess…but why both of you?" answered Takane.

"I didn't want to be the only boy like this… and you are also wearing a costume too Takane!"

"Ah! Wait no shut up-"

"Remember the one with the blue jacket and white shirt and also-"

"Yeah yeah enough already don't continue!" shouted Takane while putting her hands on Haruka's mouth.

"Ohh so everyone's wearing a costume? I want one too…" said Ayano while looking at Shintaro.

"W-why are you looking at me though?" asked Shintaro.

"Lets choose one for me together okay?" asked Ayano while grabbing his arm.

"But why with me?"

"Because I want to go like Takane too… and I want to go with you to your house there are the clothes I need I think…"

"In my house?"

"Yeah, so let's just go now Shintaro-kun, come on"

Ayano dragged Shintaro back to the classroom to get back their things. They said goodbye to Takane and Haruka that were still playing the shooter game they always played together in the laptop they had in their classroom. Ayano forced Shintaro to keep the clothes Haruka gave him somehow all the way back to his house. She talked a lot like always on the way back. People would look at them in confusion because of the clothes.

"Okay we are here now… can I go in?"

"N-now you ask?"

"Hehe I didn't ask before sorry" Answered Ayano while sticking out her tongue and closing her eyes.

("How could I refuse if you do these faces…")

"Just go in already…" said Shintaro.

They went in and Momo heard him come in so she went to say hello.

"Hey oni-chan you are finally back what took you so lo-"

"Hey" said Shintaro while looking at Momo that was just standing there with a surprised look on her face while looking at his clothes.

"Pffft what is up with those clothes oni-chan you look like a game character" said Momo while laughing.

"Aghhh I knew it would be like this… dammit Haruka…"

"I-I think you look cute though…" said Ayano while covering her face with her scarf.

"Hoho I better not get in between the lovely couple then I'll be in my room playing some games!"

"Wait Momo-chan it is not like that we-" said Ayano but Momo interrupted.

"Don't worry you will have your private time, make yourself at home!" shouted Momo from the second floor.

"S-so what clothes did you need?" asked Shintaro trying to get the mood less awkward after Momo's teasing.

"Ah yeah could you please lend me your red jersey jacket?"

"Ah yeah I guess so let me go get it…"

Shintaro got his red jacket and gave it Ayano so that she could try it on. It was a little bigger than her size but still looked really good on her.

"Aha I like it and now… with the red scarf… complete!"

"Why with the red scarf?"

"Because now I am entirely red like a hero… red is the color of a hero!" said Ayano while doing a weird pose raising one of her arms into the air.

"Pfft…" Shintaro was trying to hold back laughing.

"Ahh! Don't laugh it looks cool!"

"But why the jacket though?" said Shintaro as he calmed down his laughter.

"Because like this I look like Takane with her blue jersey jacket just like you with Haruka and his Konoha clothes… also I wanted to wear something yours as good luck I guess… b-but mainly because I think it looks cool!"

"Ah-ah… Y-Yeah you can use it if you want…"

"T-Thanks then…" Ayano was just standing there quiet after taking off the jacket.

"S-so do you… feel better now… I mean since I promised to help you I don't know if I have been of much help…"

"…Of course you are, you are my greatest…" said Ayano with a really low voice that Shintaro couldn't hear.

"A-Ayano?"

Ayano suddenly hugged Shintaro and started speaking again.

"H-hey Shintaro-kun… promise me another thing okay?"

"W-what is it?"

"If I win… or reach the final actually… could you… could you…?"

"W-what?"

"Could you… give me one hug every day? Like the one that day you were comforting me in the classroom or like… right now…"

"W-when?"

"In the mornings when we meet each other…"

"I-If it helps you feel better then I guess so…"

"R-really?" asked Ayano while still hugging him.

"Yeah" answered Shintaro.

"Now kiss"

"Agh! Momo-chan since when were you here?" asked Ayano while her face was bright red.

"Hmm… since "If I reach the final…" I think…"

"Hehe Mo-Momo-chan I'll buy you some ice cream so please don't tell anyone about that… embarrassing moment okay?" said Ayano while holding Shintaro's jacket.

"Okay! I like chocolate flavour!"

"Do you want some too, Shintaro-kun?"

"Huh yeah okay… chocolate too I guess"

"Well the lets go I know a good place nearby"

The three of them left the house and went to get some ice cream. As they were walking they saw two kids arguing about something.

"It is a cool cat come one look!"

"N-no you almost got hurt the other day because of it!"

"Ah you are so annoying!" The black haired girl ran away following the cat, and the boy ran behind her following her. A girl in a bicycle was going the exact same way the cat was and it seemed as she didn't really know how to ride yet.

"Ah Marry no! Try to use the break! Break!" The voice seemed familiar to Ayano.

"Hey is that Seto?" asked Shintaro.

"Yeah what is he doing here I wonder…"

"AhHhhHHhh! What, what break!?"

"AH Hiyori be careful!"

The boy jumped and pushed the black haired girl to a side so that she would get hit by the bicycle, the girl that was riding got scared so she jumped out of it before, somehow though the bike got enough momentum to hit the boy on the head.

"Agh…"

"Ah Hibiya!" shouted the black haired girl.

"Aaaauch… that hurts god… my head…"

"Ahhhh I am sorry are you ok?" asked the girl that was riding the bike.

"Hi-Hibiya are you okay? What was that for you freaking ball of fluff!?" shouted the black haired girl angrily.

"Ba-Ball of fluff!?" asked the girl in surprise.

"Ahh… We are sorry Marry is still just learning how to ride… are you okay?"

"Y-yeah I think so…"

"Lets go Hibiya I'll get you something cold for your head… don't jump in front of moving things for me you idiot, are you stupid or something?"

"Haha… S-sorry Hiyori…"

"…Idiot…" said the black haired girl while looking like she was about to cry. They left the place looking for a soda machine so that she could put one on his head.

The other girl and Seto left too.

"Wow that was weird… and kind of cliché too I think" said Momo.

"Let's just go already…" said Shintaro.

They walked a little more until they arrived at a shop that sold various things like masks key chains and also balloons. There was a store right beside that one that sold ice creams.

"We are here finally so I'll order the ice creams you guys go sit on that bench for now"

"Hey oni-chan look… upupupupu…" Momo was wearing a mask of a bear. It had a weird design with a red eye and half white and half black.

"What the hell are you doing Momo…" asked Shintaro while looking at the mask.

"Buy me this mask or you will suffer despair upupupu!" said Momo while lifting her arms.

"Aghhh… okay okay I'll buy it for you…" Shintaro bought the mask for Momo.

Ayano arrived with the ice creams to where both Momo and Shintaro were sitting.

"Hey guys here the ice- whoa Momo-chan you look… so despairing hehe" said Ayano.

"I know right? Upupupu" answered Momo.

"You too seriously…" said Shintaro.

"Hey Shintaro-kun did you buy it for her?" asked Ayano while giving him his ice cream.

"Yeah oni-chan bought it for me" said Momo.

"Buy one for me too, come on!" said Ayano.

"W-Why?" asked Shintaro.

"Because I want a gift to commemorate today too…"

"Aghhh… okay… which one do you-"

"Nope! You have to choose it!" exclaimed Ayano.

"… okay…" Shintaro got up and went to buy another mask.

He started looking at all of the masks that were there and wondered which one would be the best one for her. He then saw one that caught his attention. He bought that one for Ayano and brought it to her.

"Here I liked this one I guess…" said the boy while he gave Ayano the mask. It was a mask with the face of a cat with white hair and eyes kind of red or brown, a little of a mix.

"Wow Ayano-chan can you are a royal guard now! Can you use Nen!?" asked Momo while looking at Ayano.

"Hehe yes, my ability is tickling Shintaro's little sister!" Ayano then started playing with Momo.

"Hahaaha what a useless Nen ability" said Momo while trying to hold back her laughter.

"Hah…" Shintaro laughed a little.

"Oni-chan… prepare to feel the despair of infinite tickling!" said Momo while looking at Shintaro.

"And the strongest tickling Nen ability in town!" said Ayano while looking at him too.

"What? N-No no no stop… hahaha… hahaa" said Shintaro while trying to escape from the tickling.

The two girls had a little fun with him until they were already tired too. They spent the rest of the afternoon talking at Shintaro and Momo's house after they went back, until Ayano had to go home.

"I'm going to go home now… so can I keep the jacket for a while Shintaro-kun?" asked Ayano while blushing a little and hugging the jacket with both arms.

"Y-yeah just take it…" said Shintaro.

"Okay… then see you at school tomorrow… don't forget about our promise okay!? Bye see you tomorrow" said Ayano.

"Goodbye…" Shintaro couldn't help but smile while saying goodbye to the cheerful girl. She always got a smile out of him, somehow even in the most boring days. He then thought about Ayano's mom and her condition, he wished he could do more about that, but since there wasn't anything right now he just went to his room to work on the science project.

After working for 3 hours straight he thought that should be enough for the day, his eyes were tired from looking at the screen anyway already.

"Well that should be enough for today… Ayano's idea was pretty complicated to actually make it work though… well with this surely we have a chance to win though… "

In his desktop there was a file named .

"Well… I hope Ayano likes how it is up until now… also gotta do the design yet but that should be easier, gonna go to sleep for today…"

Shintaro went to bed and fell asleep right away.

He had another dream with Ayano, only this time it was less realistic, it wasn't an online RPG this time though but a city they were trapped in, and they had to fight this giant creatures using some crazy weapons like hooks and swords. Ayano was using her red scarf like always but she wouldn't let go of it never. He was almost eaten by one of those giants when he woke up.

"What the hell was that dream about…" Shintaro woke up to the sound of his alarm.

("Well anyway I should just go to school and take this so that Ayano can see it and tell me what she thinks about the program up to this point")

After Shintaro arrived to school he started searching for Ayano but in the way he found Kenjirou standing in a hallway and he greeted him right away telling him he had some news about the science festival.

"Yo Kisaragi, I got some news about the prize of the science festival"

"What is it…" asked Shintaro while looking at his teacher.

"Since you are probably going to choose p.e. as the subject to improve you grades on, you should gather a team because you are going to have to play a basketball match against the basketball team, ah but don't worry it is not the starters it is not that cruel of a match" said Kenjirou while laughing a little.

"Wha-"

"Yeah, of course it would be with teams, I mean it is sports we are talking about here, the 5 tests will be basketball, football, volleyball, running and tennis"

"H-how am I supposed to gather a team I don't know many people that play sports I mean Haruka can't even play because of his sickness…"

"It will be boys and girls though so you can choose girl teammates"

"R-really? Why?"

"No reason in particular, is just that a group of students though it would be fun to play with each other not only as only boys or only girls, so we are doing a sports festival about it, and if you win and want to improve your grades… you play against them"

"Aghhhh… who am I going to take…"

"Don't know but you should decide soon, also by every match you win your final grade will be 20 points higher so even if you lose some, with two matches it should be fine I guess, your grade in p.e. must be like at least 40 out of 100 right?"

"25…" said Shintaro while looking somewhere else.

"25 seriously?… still two matches would mean 65, you should aspire to win 3 of the matches then, try to win with your team the most you can, see you" said Kenjirou as he walked away.

("Aghh… goddammit this is so annoying… what to do… well first I should see who I can take to the match…")

Shintaro went to his classroom with a look of defeat on his face. Ayano noticed and asked what happened to him. He told her everything that Kenjirou told him, Ayano looked like she was having a lot of fun hearing about it.

"Ohhh I see… well maybe I can play I'm a pretty decent sports player in general, also I know someone who might be good…"

"Really? Like how it was with Kido?"

"Not that good at it, but better than all of us I guess, let's try asking him today what do you think?"

"Huh… okay I guess…" Shintaro just sat there with a cold look like always thinking about how not to have an embarrassing moment at the basketball match, with his lack of skill, it was a difficult task for him.

After classes were over, they both went to Haruka and Takane's classroom, they explained they couldn't stay to practice that day since they had to practice for the matches, and so then they left the school.

As they were walking just a few streets away from the school they saw the pair from the day before, the black haired girl and the boy, now with a bandage on his head.

"Hey Hiyori can we go see a movie?" asked the boy.

"No there is nothing good today" said the black haired girl.

"Do we go to the park?" said the boy while looking at her.

"No I don't want to I'm tired anyway" said the girl.

"Hehe… then what do we do this is a date after all we should do somethi-"

"Don't call it a date okay?" said the black haired girl.

"B-But you said you would go on a date with me today because of what happened yesterday…"

"Ahhh I am getting pissed off at you now, why do you have to be so annoying…?"

"S-Sorry…" said the boy while looking sad.

"Here… is this enough of a date to you now?" The black haired girl pulled the boys head towards her legs and gave him a lap pillow.

"Y-Y-Yes!" said the boy looking bright red but happy like never before.

"Now if you shut up I'll rub your hair" said the black haired girl.

"Y-Yes…" said the boy happily.

"…okay good boy" said the black haired girl as she started rubbing his hair.

Shintaro and Ayano watched the whole thing; they couldn't help but laugh a little.

"Seems like they are fine after what happened yesterday…" said Shintaro.

"Yeah and they are getting along better… I guess…" said Ayano not so sure about it.

"So who is this person we are going to ask to join the team?" asked Shintaro.

"Oh you know him already… It's my brother Kousuke-kun!" answered Ayano with a smile on her face.

"Huh… I hope he actually joins though…" said Shintaro while looking at Ayano. They were really close to Ayano's house already.

"Yeah he will, I know he will he always likes to help other people, and also enjoys going out a lot so I think he would actually love it" said Ayano while looking at Shintaro. They were outside of Ayano's house now.

"Well anyway we are here already lets go in shall we?" said Ayano inviting Shintaro to come in.

"Huh…yeah" said Shintaro as he followed Ayano.

Seto was watching TV when they both arrived. Ayano explained everything to Seto and he accepted right away not even waiting to hear about the prize, type of games or team members.

"Yeah I would love to play some sports with Nee-san's friend!"

"R-Really?" asked Shintaro surprised.

"Yeah it will be fun… lets see… lets go practice at a place I know to see what things we are good at together the three of us okay?" said Seto while looking at Ayano and Shintaro.

"Haha getting to practice already… I am a little tired…" said Ayano.

"Yeah me too…" said Shintaro right after Ayano.

"Then lets just practice shooting, we have a basketball ring on the backyard and only shooting shouldn't be tiresome" said Seto while looking for the ball.

"Y-Yeah I guess so…that sounds good" said Ayano while looking at Shintaro

"Huh…" Shintaro didn't really know what to say.

The 3 of them went to the backyard to practice shooting, first it was Seto, he scored 8 times out of 10 tries, then it was Ayano, she took more time to shoot but scored 6 out of 10, last was Shintaro he scored none out of 9.

"Go Shintaro-kun last one is the lucky one!" said Ayano while encouraging him.

"Try to bend your knees a little more Shintaro-san!" said Seto trying to give him some advice.

("Bend my knees more…")

Shintaro shot the ball. There was a sound of a window breaking right away.

"Was that Seto's…?" asked Ayano while looking up.

"Yep that's my window…" said Seto

"S-Sorry…" said Shintaro while looking at the ground.

"Ahahaha don't mind don't mind Shintaro-san it's fine, we just have to practice more, how about we practice on the weekend?"

"Y-Yeah that sounds good I guess…" said Shintaro while looking at Ayano.

"Yeah I'll practice too, we also have to look for more members through the rest of the week so when we have enough team members we will practice together okay?" said Ayano while looking at the two boys.

"We will win those matches, right Shintaro-san?" said Seto while patting Shintaro on the back.

"Y-Yeah I hope…" said Shintaro.

"Well let's go to my room so that you can show me the project Shintaro-kun!" said Ayano happily.

"Okay" answered Shintaro, back to his usual self.

They both sat down right next to each other looking at the program Shintaro was making, Ayano constantly telling him how amazing it was that he made so much progress in such a short period of time, and Shintaro constantly asking her what other things it could have. It was a really weird day at the beginning but they both felt happy at that moment.

After that Shintaro went home and went to bed right away. He started thinking about who could join he ask to join the team, Takane and Haruka were out because of their weak bodies, Maybe Momo could play too but he wasn't so sure, he also thought about Kido. Then he started thinking about the dreams he had lately involving Ayano. He then fell asleep almost right away.

That night his dream wasn't something weird again, it was just the two of them in a room in a hotel, sitting at a little table while eating dinner, they had the view of the whole forest at night just by looking out through the window of the room, they were just talking and Ayano was wearing a red dress.

"Hey Shintaro… I love-"

Shintaro suddenly woke up. It was Momo in his room again. She was wearing her bear mask again.

"Wake up it is already 6:30; we have to get ready upupupu"

"Yeah, yeah…" said Shintaro while getting ready for a new day at school.

* * *

Well i hope you enjoyed reading this freaking long chapter.

The references were if i remember well... Drrr!, Baccano!, SAO, Shingeki, Danganronpa, and persona 3 and 4, don't remember if there were anymore though.


	4. Chapter 4 - Friday's festival

Chapter four of the story, the start is a little slow maybe a little tedious, but i think that like at the middle it gets a little better.

Also to everyone that reads this and reviews it, thanks you are freaking amazing =P

I forgot in the last chapter to put something, i did do a hunter x reference, it was neferpitou, that is why it was a cat mask with white hair.

Thats it, gonna make this intro a little shorter than usual, i do not own any of the characters.

Enjoy =P

* * *

It was a cold day today too like the days before. The weather had changed abruptly since that hot day that the tournament was decided. Shintaro was walking to school with Momo, she was telling him about another movie she had seen, and this time it was about pirates.

"And then you know, they jumped from one ship to the other one with their swords and started to fight" said Momo while looking at Shintaro.

"Yeah…" answered the boy sleepy.

"Hey you promised me you would go to the cinema with me to watch the ninja movie that's going to come out soon, when are we going to go?" asked Momo.

"Ahhh… okay… how about this weekend? Is it going to be out already by the weekend?"

"Yes! It is going to be available already, but only on one cinema and it is a little too far away"

"Agh… well okay a promise is a promise even if it is a drag"

"Yay, thanks oni-chan, you know we have seen a lot of weird and funny things lately like the girl that hit that boy with the bicycle and Takane's tons of fans, I don't think I had seen things like that before"

"Yeah also those two boys the other day…"

"Yeah the girl in the bicycle was so weird I mean how can you even ride a bicycle with those clothes isn't that like really uncomfortable and makes it more complicated and-"

Shintaro and Momo started looking to the other side of the street they were walking in. A boy was riding a bicycle, but he was carrying someone in the bicycle front basket.

"W-Was that a girl inside a futon mattress?" asked Momo with a surprised look.

"Y-yeah I think so…" said Shintaro also pretty surprised.

"I think that beats all of the other weird things we have seen up until now…"

"Yeah you are right… wait, who wears a futon mattress around their upper body though…"

"I don't know… maybe she was too cold…" said Momo.

Both of them arrived at the school pretty early. Shintaro talked with Ayano a little in the morning, mainly about the science project. On their lunch break they went to Haruka and Takane's classroom to test it out on the computer they usually used to play their shooter game. The program still needed some adjustments but the idea was kind of showing already.

"Welcome, I am Azami, what may you need?" said the girl in the computer.

A bunch of options appeared on the screen on, displayed by the character's hands.

"Okay let's choose… organize music… that should be simple I guess…" said Shintaro.

"How would you like to organize it?" said the computer program.

"By… name… and… only this two folders…" said Shintaro while choosing some options on the screen.

"Yes, here, the organized files" said Azami while a folder opened.

"Wow I can't believe you actually made it Shintaro-kun!" said Ayano while looking at the computer.

"Hey that is so cool, can it call you master?" asked Takane while looking at Shintaro.

"You can choose it to call you however you like..." said the boy while opening an option in the program.

"Sweet… this is so cool… hmm… what is this, subject teacher Azami… okay math I guess?" said Takane while clicking an option.

"No don't click that it is not finished!" said Shintaro but Takane had already clicked it.

"Yes Master Takane right away…" Azami started teaching a mathematical formula but the same problem and result started showing over and over again until Shintaro closed the program.

"Agh it made a loop… well if we fix that, and it actually works then it should be ready" said Shintaro.

"R-Really? If it can teach things for school then everyone is going to love it, imagine the people that have to study for a test and don't understand anything but don't want to go supplementary lessons because it is too tiring and just want to stay at home, like me for example, I mean holy crap it is so cool I could just study at home in my computer instead of having to come extra time here and-"

"Takane-chan really likes it hehe" said Ayano with a smile.

"I-It's just because it would be useful… for when I get sick for example also for Haruka it would be too"

The four of them kept playing with the program doing all kinds of stuff until lunch was over. In the afternoon they met to practice a little for the tournament. On the way back home Ayano was walking out of the school with Shintaro and Momo.

"Hey Shintaro-kun, how about we go to a movie this Friday?" asked Ayano.

"Hey we could all go together!" said Momo.

"Momo-chan is there a movie you would like to watch?" asked Ayano.

"Yes it is the new ninja movie, but the cinema is a little too far away from here, but oni-chan promised me we could go watch in on the weekend, let's go all together"

"Yeah that would be nice, maybe I can invite Tsubomi-chan to come too and she can meet Momo-chan, how about it Shintaro-kun can we go on Friday's afternoon? Asked Ayano.

"Yes oni-chan, can we?" asked Momo.

"Y-Yeah let's go… the four of us I guess…" answered Shintaro.

"Yay! And I can make a new friend, this is a record for me!" said Momo.

"I think the two of you will get along pretty well" said Ayano while looking at Momo.

That day Shintaro arrived home and started working on the science project right away. After working 3 hours nonstop, the Azami programming was almost done, but he decided to test it the day after because he was too tired already.

Shintaro had another dream with Ayano. This time Ayano turned into a zombie, though she was a zombie, she remained exactly the same; it was just that she wouldn't really die anymore because she was part of the living dead, he would have to look for a way to keep her body from rotting though, but she was so tender and lovely with him that he didn't mind at all, as they were looking at some plants and she fell on top of him, she got closer to him with her cold zombie body, and as they were about to kiss, he woke up again.

"What the… that was a weird dream" said Shintaro while getting out of bed.

This time Momo and Shintaro walked to school together again, she was talking about the movie they were going to watch on Friday's afternoon, and how about she wanted to meet Kido so that she could have another friend and also near her age.

When they arrived at school they met Kenjirou, he was waiting for Momo.

"Hey, I got your test results already" he said while looking at Momo.

"Oh oh…" said Momo while looking at the paper in Kenjirou's hand.

"See… I think we already talked about historical characters not having power levels…"

"Hehehe… I just didn't know what to write again…" said Momo while sticking out her tongue.

"Come with me already… we are going to have a look at the supplementary lessons you will be taking if you don't get a high score on your next test…" said Kenjirou.

"Ahhhh… not again…" said Momo while sighing.

Shintaro then went to his classroom. Ayano was waiting there for him. They started talking like always, mostly her just telling him about movies she had seen the day before and about how she tried the Azami program but some things didn't really work yet. She also told him about how she needed to study more for the upcoming tests.

"So yeah with all of the things lately I had forgotten that we promised to study together… hehe" said Ayano while looking at Shintaro.

"Yeah… we should meet for a whole day to study for the tests I guess…" said Shintaro while looking at the tests dates.

"R-Really? That would be nice…" said Ayano while pulling her scarf to her face.

"Yeah… how about the day we are going to practice with Seto, though we don't even know if we are going to win the festival's first place though…" said Shintaro.

"We are going to win I am sure! If it is with you I know we can win Shintaro-kun, you are a genius after all in all subjects… not like me"

"Not in sports though…"

"Hehe I guess that is true you are pretty clumsy at sports…"

"S-Shut up… idiot…"

"But you yourself said it though" said Ayano while laughing a little.

"Yeah I know…" said Shintaro while laughing a little too.

"By the way Kido said she would to the movies too, so we are four already, it is a little far away like Momo-chan said so I maybe I should make some things to eat there"

"Yeah that would be nice too…"

"It is a really nice place though; did you know they are having a little festival right next to the cinema?"

"What… really?"

"Yes! Let's go see it after the movie ends, okay?"

"O-Okay…" said Shintaro while looking at Ayano.

Shintaro felt a little excited about going to the movies with Ayano, he didn't know why though, even though they saw each other every day, even more now that they met on weekends for the science project and the gaming tournament, and also the sports practice now, this felt a little different from that, more like a date, though Momo and Kido were going to be there too so it wasn't really much a date, he was still happy though, lately he didn't dislike being with Momo, he thought it was all thanks to Ayano.

Classes were over already and they headed to the club room to practice for the tournament, they now called it that though it was just Takane and Haruka's usual classroom.

After practicing a while they decided to try out the Azami program again since Shintaro had worked on it a lot the day before, so they used Haruka's laptop.

"Okay so… what do I do?" asked Takane.

"Uhmmm you could try some of the new features" said Shintaro.

"Okay… this one… create desktop wallpaper… with users favourite images and blue design!" said Takane while she chose all of the options available.

"Ah!" Haruka looked a little nervous.

An image of Takane dressed as her character for the tournament appeared on the background of the computer as the wallpaper, it had a design pretty nice made by Azami so that it wouldn't bother the user blocking the view of the icons like normal wallpapers. Everyone was more surprised because of the picture though.

"I ahh… it's for the tournament I mean…"

"Delete Azami! Delete! Delete the wallpaper…" said Takane while blushing really hard.

"Expand the wallpaper master Takane?" asked the computer program.

"What!? No delete it!" said Takane while clicking an option.

"Searching for images with similar names… 30 images found, would you like to use them for the wallpaper, master Takane?"

"What? 30? No just… agh close this freaking thing" Takane was covering her face, so was Haruka.

"Seems like the program is failing a little, well this was pretty useful as a test though" said Shintaro.

"Useful my ass…" said Takane while still covering her face.

Shintaro closed the program, and then Haruka started talking.

"T-Those were for… you know… to have an image of everyone in their costumes…" said Haruka.

"Haruka-san really likes Takane-chan in her tournament clothes hehe" said Ayano while looking at Shintaro.

"Y-Yeah I guess so…" answered the boy.

"The feature about teaching is working a lot better though!" said Haruka with a smile.

"Yeah it is pretty good I could understand everything" said Takane.

"That is so cool, so it should work for the festival, with this I am sure we can win, right Shintaro-kun?" said Ayano while looking at the boy with a happy face.

"Y-Yeah maybe… but it has to be perfect for next Friday though, it is not that much time if we are also studying for tests" answered the boy.

"Well I guess you are right… but still even if we don't manage to win it is not a bad thing, just take it easy okay? I don't want you to overwork yourself okay" said Ayano while grabbing his arm.

"I-I want you to improve your grades though… I promised you…so we need to win" said Shintaro while he started to blush a little.

"T-Thanks…" Ayano started blushing a little too.

"Oh for the love of god… you two why don't you just kiss already while you are at it?" asked Takane while looking at the two of them.

"T-Takane that is a little…" said Ayano while pulling her scarf up to her face like always.

"Just kidding I know… I know…you are not a couple blablabla" said Takane.

"By the way Haruka-san… when did you take pictures of Takane with her costume?" asked Ayano.

"They must have taken pictures of each other, together here" said Shintaro.

"Wha- How do you know that?"

"Because you have a picture of Haruka with his costume on your cellphone I saw it while you were showing me a video of a new shooter on your cellphone on lunch break" said Shintaro.

"I-Idiot don't say that I-I… you…" said Takane.

"Hahaha… yeah actually we took pictures of each other to see how we looked since we don't have a mirror here…" said Haruka while blushing.

"Ohhh… but you kept them to look at your beloved one at all times, right?" said Momo.

"Momo-chan, when did you arrive here!?" asked Takane surprised.

"Just now, I came to get oni-chan!" answered Momo.

"You done with your extra lessons?" asked Shintaro.

"Yep! All done for today at least… next week I have more for the tests though" answered Momo with a tired face.

"Yeah let's just go home for today" said Shintaro.

After they said goodbye to everyone else they went home. On the way home Momo told Shintaro about the movie they were going to watch, she also asked him if he could make Azami help her with her studies but instead of that he said that he would help her, since that would be easier than programming more things in Azami.

"So oni-chan, you are gonna help me study?" asked Momo.

"Yeah it would be troublesome waiting for you every day if you have supplementary lessons every day of the week" answered the boy.

"Yeah I guess so…"

Both of them arrived home, Momo was pretty happy about going to finally watch her movie. They played some games in Shintaro's room and Momo went to sleep pretty early to be prepared for tomorrow and have a lot of energy for the trip since it was a little far.

Shintaro went to bed after working a little on Azami. He fixed the problem that appeared during the accident with the wallpaper of Haruka's laptop.

That night Shintaro had a continuation of a dream he had before. It was about the online RPG, though he was not trapped with Ayano anymore, he was with Momo now and they had to go on another adventure on another online RPG game, only this time to save Takane.

It was finally Friday. Shintaro woke up and went to school. He felt a little sleepy because he had a hard time falling asleep the day before. It was a really cold day, colder than the other ones. For some reason Shintaro could not stop thinking about Ayano hugging him, all of the times they hugged had been so unique for him, like it was a new thing every single time, the warmth he felt when she was embracing him, the calmness and how relaxed and happy he felt, it was something that would really fit in a cold day like this too. He also thought about the promise she made him make about hugging her every day if she reached the final of the tournament.

("Idiot I would do it without you winning or anything you just had to ask and done…")

Shintaro started blushing a little, good thing he had a scarf today too to cover his face.

They spent the whole day like any other normal day, listening in class, eating lunch together now with Momo too though since she said she didn't have any friends in her class and she didn't want to eat alone, so it was Ayano's idea that from now on she would eat with them.

When it was already afternoon they went outside of school and said goodbye to Haruka and Takane that were going together to buy some new game that came out recently and Takane really wanted to play. Kido was waiting at the entrance for the rest.

"This is my sister Tsubomi-chan, this is Momo-chan, Shintaro's sister" said Ayano while introducing each other.

"H-Hi…" said Kido while looking down at the floor.

"H-HEY! I'm Momo… you ahh… like the movie we are going to watch?" asked Momo a little nervous.

"Y-Yeah I really like ninjas…" said Kido a little shyly.

"Yeah! Me too! They can hide like freaking crazy and not get spotted like bwaaahh" said Momo all excited about the movie.

"Y-Yes but also they are really strong too with their abilities…" said Kido.

"Hehe they are getting along so well…" said Ayano while looking at Shintaro.

"Y-Yeah…" said Shintaro with his usual cold expression.

They decided to go on train since it was more comfortable and it would leave them pretty close to the place they had to go, the cinema and the festival were pretty close to one of the stations, and also it was Ayano that said they should do something different once in a while and riding a train wasn't something they usually got to do together.

They sat down to wait for the train. A couple sat down near them.

"S-So Shintaro-kun h-have you gone to a festival with friends before?" asked Ayano.

"N-no… never… only with Momo when we were little... why?" answered the boy.

"N-no reason… I think riding a train was a good decision… it feels so elegant, don't you think so!?" asked Ayano.

"Yeah I guess so…" answered Shintaro not looking so sure.

"Hey Isaac, they are talking about adventures in trains aren't they?" said the blonde girl that was sitting near them.

"Yeah Miria, we sure do know about that right?" said the guy that was sitting with the blond girl.

"A lot about it indeed!" said the girl.

"But I didn't expect people here to also like trains that much too!" said the guy with cowboy clothes.

"It's a culture shock!" said the blonde girl.

"Are you riding the train too?" asked Ayano to the couple sitting near them.

"Yes we are! We are experts at this already!" said the guy while looking at them.

"Experts already!" said the girl right after him.

"Just be careful about… rail tracer!" shouted the guy while making a scary face.

"Rail tracer!" shouted the girl right after him.

"R-Rail tracer?" asked Ayano.

"It is a monster that attacks trains… we were once in a train and it appeared! We are lucky we survived!" said the guy while closing his eyes.

"Very lucky!" said the girl while imitating his expression.

"M-M-Monster?" asked Ayano now a little scared.

"Yes… and it is unstoppable, well lets go Miria the train arrived already, see you guys again! "Said the guy in cowboy clothes.

"See you!" said the girl in the red dress.

"W-What were they talking about…" said Kido a little scared too.

"J-Just some nonsense I guess…" said Momo trying to reassure Kido that monsters didn't exist, but also pretty scared.

"They must be some crazy people… anyway, let's just go already" said Shintaro while standing up.

While they were already inside the train Ayano started looking outside of the train pretty nervously.

"Hey, don't tell me, are you scared?" asked Shintaro while looking at her.

"W-What! N-No I'm totally fi-" The train made a weird noise and Ayano buried her face on Shintaro's chest.

"WHAT! What was that!" she said while still holding onto Shintaro.

"N-Nothing… it was just a noise…" said Shintaro while looking at the other two girls, they were hugging too, seems that the scary story got to them too.

("Ahhh… this is going to be a long trip like this… not that I mind though… she is so close she feels so warm too…")

"S-Shintaro-kun… do you… remember our promise?" asked Ayano while still hugging him.

"A-About reaching the final?" answered the boy almost instantly.

"Yeah… I… do you not like it?"

"What… the promise?"

"Yeah… does it bother you?"

"N-No… I don't mind…I mean it is fine…"

"Haha I'm glad… I really like being like this after all… I feel like I can tell you everything I feel if we are like this… I feel so happy…"

"Y-Yeah me too…" said the boy while blushing really hard.

"You know we are still here right?" said Momo while looking at the two of them.

Kido was still hugging Momo though. She seemed to still be a little scared.

"Ah! Momo-chan… please forget that… hehe we will buy you some ice cream again…"

"Yay okay" answered Momo cheerfully.

"H-Hey look we arrived" said Kido while looking outside. It wasn't that long of a trip in the end.

The four of them went to the cinema and bought the tickets right away. They waited for the movie to start, Ayano sat down next to Shintaro and Momo and Kido were going to seat next to them too but somehow they ended up way father up front, it seems like they sneaked up in the last moment.

"W-Why did they go there?" asked Ayano a little confused. She received a text message from Kido.

-Go for it, now is your chance, do your best-

("Ahhh Tsubomiiii-chan… you are acting like mom now!") Ayano showed the message to Shintaro.

"Well we will just regroup when the movie ends…" said Shintaro while sitting down.

The movie started and the whole place got darker.

("C-could I hold his hand… ca-can I do it…?") Thought Ayano while looking down.

("Maybe we could… hold hands… ah dammit here goes…") Ayano tried to hold Shintaro's hand but forgot a can of soda was near his hand and knocked it over.

"Agh… cold…" said Shintaro with a low voice as the soda spilled all over his knee.

"Ahhh… sorry Shintaro-kun…" Ayano extended her hand with a handkerchief to wipe out the soda of his knee. She ended up grabbing his hand with the handkerchief instead.

"Ah! S-Sorry…I…" said Ayano nervously.

Shintaro showed Ayano his cellphone; he decided to type the message to not bother the other people watching the movie.

-N-no yeah I…I was trying to see how big the stain was…-

-Y-Yeah… sorry about the soda…haha we are so awkward getting so worked up about grabbing hands right?-

-Yeah…-

-This feels like those times we text each other, at night or things like that, but now you are so close it just makes me happy that we are not far apart…it is like a cellphone with a new app to be able to be together… I'm just talking nonsense now… I am kind of nervous… can we hold hands?-

("Whoa… whoa whoa whoa whoa… I just wrote that!? What… why did I write that? Oh god he must be thinking I am so weird…")

Ayano felt Shintaro's hand touching hers, it wasn't that much like a couple would hold hands, but she could still feel his hand touching hers. He was looking the other way though.

Ayano looked at the cellphone.

-Idiot…-

("Hehe… you are so cute when you are embarrassed Shintaro-kun…")

Ayano held Shintaro's hand tightly as she closed her eyes. She was really enjoying that moment.

"Hey the movie ended… lets go" said Shintaro as he was getting up.

"Ah…okay lets go meet the others" Ayano was suddenly a little nervous while talking to him.

The four of them met outside of the cinema. Kido and Momo looked at them and laughed a little at first, they then said they should go right away to the festival.

"Let's go I wanna buy some things to commemorate this trip!" said Momo while smiling.

"Y-Yeah let's go" said Shintaro while looking at her.

"Do you want to eat some takoyaki Kido-chan?" asked Momo.

"Y-Yeah I would like some…" answered Kido.

"Hey that sounds good let's go eat some Shintaro-kun" said Ayano while pointing to the guy that was selling it at the festival's entrance. They went to the shop that was selling it and bought some for the four of them.

"Here, for the two little girls and for the lovely couple!" said the guy selling the takoyaki.

"Ahaha we are not a couple though…" said Ayano.

"R-Really? You really look like one though… well have a nice day" answered the guy looking a little confused.

"W-why did he look so confused I wonder…" said Ayano while looking at the shop after they sat down to eat.

"Maybe because people who hold hands usually are couples I guess…" said Momo while pointing at their hands, they had been still holding hands since they left the cinema.

"Eh? Ehhhhh?" Ayano looked at her own hand while she was still holding Shintaro's hand, she started blushing harder than ever.

"Ah! Momo why didn't you say anything!" said Shintaro while looking at his sister.

"I thought you guys were doing it on purpose how was I supposed to know you didn't notice!"

"Pffft…" Kido couldn't help but laugh a little about the whole situation.

"Ah I…I… I'm gonna check that store!" Ayano said as she ran off to a store nearby with a lot of people, there was a really big crowd.

"Ah Nee-san wait…" Kido and Momo chased after Ayano.

"Ah guys we shouldn't get separated it could be hard to-"

A really big crowd appeared in front of Shintaro all of a sudden. It was impossible for him to see the girls anymore anywhere around the place. He started walking and wandering around looking for them but couldn't find them so he just sat down on a bench where a girl with long hair was sitting while looking in every direction every once in a while.

"Ahhh what am I gonna do… I wonder where they could be…" said Shintaro while sighing.

"Are you looking for someone too?" asked the girl with long hair.

"Ah…eh….yeah…" answered Shintaro. It was a really beautiful girl he thought to himself. She had purple eyes, it was not something you would see very often, but she was really, really beautiful.

"Did you get separated too?" asked the girl with purple eyes.

"Ah…yeah… you too?" said Shintaro as he felt more comfortable talking with her.

"Yes, I got separated from a friend I was with because of the crowd… how about we search together for our companions?" said the girl while looking at him.

"O-Okay…" said Shintaro looking a little surprised.

"My name is Chitanda, Chitanda Eru!" said the girl with purple eyes.

"I-I'm Kisaragi Shintaro" replied Shintaro right away.

"Nice to meet you Shintaro-san!"

"Y-Yeah same here I guess…"

"Well then let's go look for our friends!" said the girl as she grabbed Shintaro by the arm and dragged him along all the way until they reached the end of one of the sections of the festival.

For some reason Shintaro felt really similar as to how he felt with Ayano, with her dragging him along to every place she wanted to go or to something she wanted to do.

"Ah sorry, I just felt like you were kind of similar to my friend so I just dragged you along!" said the girl while looking at him.

"Ah n-no it's fine…" Shintaro was getting a little nervous.

"Master, I have found the others, their cellphones have reception again" Azami's voice could be heard from Shintaro's pocket.

Shintaro had made a portable version of Azami so that he didn't have to do some things like calling with his phone every time until Momo just answered so like in this case it would tell him when she had signal, only this time it was actually pretty useful and not just being lazy.

"Whoa, what was that! Can you show me? I-I'm curious!" asked the girl while looking at him.

"I-It's just a program I made for a science festival…" answered Shintaro while blushing.

"That is so incredible!" said the girl.

"T-Thanks" said Shintaro.

Suddenly a crowd started to gather somewhere pretty quickly, they could notice because everyone was going in the same direction.

("Could it be Momo?")

"Hey why don't we go there too maybe our friends are there too!" said Chitanda.

"Y-Yeah" answered Shintaro.

"Ah! But first let's exchange phone numbers, we could talk and even become friends, I'm really curious about that program you made it is so cool"

"Ah? Eh… o-okay…" Shintaro could only agree to the proposal right away, he was really nervous because every time she said she was curious, her eyes felt like they were sparkling in a way he had never seen before.

"Okay let's go!" Chitanda grabbed Shintaro's arm and dragged him to where the crowd was.

There was a little stage and Momo was on it singing a song Shintaro had heard before. He then saw that Kido was going to sing a song too.

"Go Kido you can do it!" It was Ayano that was shouting, trying to encourage Kido to sing.

"Ah! That's who I'm looking for" said Shintaro while pointing to Ayano.

"Ahahah and that bored looking boy with her is my friend that I'm looking for!" said Chitanda.

"R-Really?"

"Yes, what a coincidence isn't it?"

"Y-Yes a great one actually, they must have been in the same situation like us in the end"

"Yeah, but we finally found them Shintaro-san"

"Yeah" They both went to where the other two were standing and called out to them from a distance.

"Oh, Shintaro-kun! Where were you?" asked Ayano as she came close to him.

"Oreki-san!" said Chitanda while looking at the boy that was with Ayano.

"Ah, Chitanda, where were you?"

"Eh? I was with you all the time and then suddenly you were gone, then I met a new friend and started searching for you and now I found you, seems like you were with his friend too"

"Oh, is that so…" the boy looked bored with the same expression, was he really bored though, Shintaro couldn't really tell, he just thought that they could be really good friends if they met and talked sometime, he felt they were alike somehow.

"Anyway let's go already, I'm curious about that store over there!" said Chitanda while looking at the boy with the bored expression.

"It's just a normal store though…" said the boy while looking at the store she pointed at.

"Goodbye Shintaro-san, talk later some other day, okay?" said the girl while waving her hand.

"Huh…yeah… talk some other time I guess…" answered Shintaro.

The boy with the bored expression just waved at Ayano as a goodbye expression, she just waved back too since she didn't have time to say goodbye because they went away so quickly.

"Huh… that was weird… was that Oreki-sans friend?" asked Ayano while looking at Shintaro.

"Y-Yeah I think so" answered Shintaro while looking at the pair going to the store they targeted.

"She was really cute too… were you with her all this time?" asked Ayano while looking at Shintaro.

"Ah? Huh…yeah…" answered Shintaro.

"Hmmmpfff…" Ayano was silent for a moment. She was looking at Shintaro with a kind of sad expression.

"W-What?" asked the boy while she was still looking at him.

"Nothing…" answered Ayano.

"Master shall I save this new number with a specific name or something else besides Chitanda?" said Azami while Shintaro's phone was showing Chitanda's number.

"AH!" Ayano shouted out of nowhere.

"W-What!?" asked Shintaro a little scared.

"N-nothing… you exchanged numbers?" asked Ayano looking a little sad again.

"Y-Yeah" answered Shintaro right away.

"Huhhh…" Ayano was looking a little down.

Kido was singing on the stage that Momo was singing before.

After a round of applause, Kido and Momo got down from the little stage and came back to Shintaro and Ayano, they decided it was time already that they went back to the train station or else it would get too late to be safe traveling back and also they could close the station.

"So what did you think about the boy we meet?" asked Momo to Kido who was eating something.

"He was… nice but a little lazy" responded Kido while giving Momo some of her food.

"Huh, I thought he was cute though" said Momo while taking a bite of what Kido gave her.

"Y-Yeah he was kind of cute, I really like his voice also" commented Kido.

"Right, it was so soothing wasn't it? What did you think Ayano-chan?" asked Momo while looking at Ayano that was sitting right next to Shintaro.

"…"

"Nee-chan?" asked Kido since Ayano didn't answer and was just looking out the window of the train.

"Ah…eh…I… don't know…" she was still quiet.

"Ah…uhmm… oni-chan by the way who was that girl you were with?" asked Momo while trying to lighten up the mood.

"Just someone I met there while looking for you guys" answered Shintaro.

"AND exchanged numbers with…" added Ayano while looking the other way.

"Huh? Y-Yeah… why did you say that part though" said Shintaro while looking at her.

"No reason, just thought I would point it out…" responded Ayano.

"Ah! So you were on the same train Shintaro-san!" Chitanda appeared from the hallway of the train with her friend.

"Hi Oreki-chan!" said Momo while waving her hand with some food.

"Ch-chan?" Oreki looked a bit surprised.

"Hi Oreki-san…" said Kido while looking at her food.

"H-Hi…" The boy said while looking at her.

"Are these the people you were looking for at the festival?" asked Chitanda.

"Y-Yeah" responded Shintaro.

"Ahhhh so sleepy…" Ayano leaned to her side until she was resting on Shintaro's shoulder.

"A-Ayano" said Shintaro a little surprised.

"Ahh… so tired…" Ayano kept leaning to Shintaro's side until she was hugging him and pretending to sleep on his shoulder.

"I see you are busy, we will leave now we are pretty tired too, oh but remember to tell me about that phone app or program you made okay? See you!" said Chitanda as she left with her friend.

"Bye Oreki-chan!" said Momo, who was exchanging numbers with him just before he left.

"Goodbye Oreki-san" said Kido while looking at the boy leave.

"Ah… yeah goodbye" said the boy as he left with his friend.

"A-Ayano are you okay?" asked Shintaro since he thought she was so exhausted.

"Zzzzzzz" Ayano wasn't answering and was just sleeping, or at least pretending to do so, while hugging Shintaro.

"Maybe we should do the same, oni-chan you take care of us and pay attention to when we get to our station okay?" said Momo as she leaned against Kido.

"M-Momo-chan…" said Kido while looking at Momo, she seemed a little embarrassed about them being so close.

"Hehe so sleepy…" said Momo as she hugged Kido, who didn't resist Momo's hug and also started to get comfortable to rest a little.

"H-Hey why am I the only one who has to stay awake I'm tired too…" said Shintaro but no one answered, it seems like the two girls had actually fallen asleep pretty fast, and Ayano was still not saying anything.

"H-Hey Ayano say something" said Shintaro while looking at the girl.

"Zzzzz" She only responded by hugging him tighter.

"Ahhh… what's up with this…" said Shintaro with a low voice.

When they arrived at their station Shintaro woke everyone up, Ayano quickly got up so Shintaro guessed she was just pretending to sleep after all like he thought at the beginning but didn't know why she did pretend to sleep in the first place, the other girls were really sleepy so Ayano took Kido's hand to take her home and Shintaro carried Momo on his back all the way home while she was still sleepy.

When he got home he said hi to his mom and explained why Momo was so sleepy, she helped him to get her to her bed, she was pretty exhausted after the trip after all, she had had a pretty exhausting week with the supplementary lessons so she must have had accumulated exhaustion.

Shintaro went to bed after working a little on Azami's program, and then he played an RPG he liked but for some reason couldn't concentrate like usual, maybe it was because of what happened on the train with Ayano, he didn't know for sure right now though so he just went to sleep after playing for like half an hour.

He then got a text message. It was from Ayano.

-What a nice festival it was, I really loved it, see each other tomorrow? =P-

He then thought maybe it was just his imagination that she was weird on the train.

-Yeah, see you tomorrow; let's try to study a lot so that we can advance some significant amount-

-Okay, seems good to me, I'll be waiting for you, how about, outside of school?-

-Okay, I guess at 11 in the morning would be nice-

-Okay =D also thanks for taking care of me on the way back, was I too heavy?-

-No it was fine, you are really light, I think I already told you that though-

-Yeah you did, thanks Shintaro-kun, see you tomorrow =P-

-Yeah, okay see you tomorrow-

("I guess it's fine then… ah well I'm really tired so I'm just gonna go to sleep")

"Ahhh what a tiring day, I'm exhausted…" Shintaro let out a sigh and went to bed after drinking a can of soda and brushing his teeth, he fell asleep almost right away.

Ayano was just laying on her bed under the sheets but couldn't fall asleep.

"She was really cute and beautiful… ahhhh come on forget about it already… Shintaro-kun…"

"Ahhh what is up with me today and I also acted so weird on the way back on the train…" Ayano started blushing as she remembered when she was hugging Shintaro and pretending to sleep.

"Just… just sleep already Ayano you can do it come on!" said Ayano as if trying to encourage herself.

That night Ayano had a dream about Shintaro. It was a dream where Shintaro was a secret service agent and he would always be with her taking care of her, and she would always tell him that it wasn't necessary to take so much care of her but he would refuse and still follow her around all day unless she told him not to, he would simply not disobey and order from her, also he could transform into a semi-fox kind of thing, she thought it was really cool, he also had a lot of photos of her on his phone, although he didn't hide them from her, it seemed he was kind of obsessed with taking care of her and was also in love, she was also in love with him though, and she also had a lot of photos of him, but in her case she wouldn't tell him, until one day he saw her cellphone by mistake, she was really embarrassed but at the moment he was getting closer to her, face to face almost as if they could hear each other's breathing, she woke up.

It was Kano. It seems he wanted to play with Ayano first thing in the morning. She got up and started her day like usual, only a little embarrassed about the dream she had had, she couldn't help but blush a little while she made breakfast before going to see Shintaro.

She thought it would be nice to spend the whole day with him again like last weekend.

* * *

I really loved writing this chapter because of the characters, i love chitanda and oreki hehe xP i hope you enjoyed it thanks for reading, sayonara

until next chapter =P


	5. Chapter 5 - Meeting other couples

So Chapter 5 of the story already... i hope you enjoy it took me really long to write it i just didn't want to write something boring, so it took longer.

This chapter took me a long time to write because i didn't want to rush it so that it wouldn't end up kind of cliche or boring or something like that.

Well anyway here it it is i hope you enjoy it a lot thanks for reading as always =D

(Sorry if there are grammatical errors this is just too long to re-read seriously... hehe)

PS: Try to spot all of the references this time hehehe

* * *

It was a cold morning like the other days. It felt as if it was going to rain at any moment. Ayano was getting ready to go see Shintaro outside of school like they had agreed to do so the day before. Good thing there wasn't school that day because it was really cold, thought Ayano. As soon as she arrived to the school gates she saw Shintaro waiting for her there, just staring at his phone while scratching his head with his other hand.

"Hey Shintaro-kun, good morning" said Ayano while getting closer to him.

"Morning" answered the boy like always.

"So… what are you looking at in your phone? Is that Azami?"

"Yeah… the program is having some issues I don't really know how to fix…" said Shintaro while closing the Azami program.

"Oh… you think you can fix it before Friday?" asked Ayano while grabbing her scarf to pull it up to her face.

"I don't know yet but I will try… by the way why is it always a red scarf?" asked Shintaro while pointing at the scarf.

"I told you already… red is the color of a hero!" said Ayano while doing her pose.

"…"

"Ahh… sorry Kano wanted to play too much in the morning so I'm still kind of in playing mode…"

"Well anyway let's just go… how's your mom being?"

"She… she's being doing fine I think… you can't really know for sure thought because her treatment is tomorrow again so we will know for sure tomorrow evening"

"I see… well you know… you don't have to take the entire burden yourself you can talk to me remember?"

"Thanks… is this the same Shintaro-kun I met the first time? You are really so different now… before you would barely say hi, and then say that I was annoying and just leave me behind"

"Yes, yes, I know…"

"Wow it is so cold right now…" said Ayano while looking at the sky.

"Yeah…"

"It was really embarrassing the other day… when we didn't notice we were holding hands I mean…"

"Y-Yeah…"

"Hey how about your friend… Chitanda-san?" said Ayano while grabbing Shintaro's arm.

("Why did I suddenly grab his arm… if I let go now it's gonna be so embarrassing… just gonna pretend I'm teasing him a little then…")

Ayano started pulling Shintaro's arm towards her in a playful way.

"W-What about it?" asked Shintaro.

"I don't know… did she send you texts or something?" asked Ayano with a serious face.

"A-Ayano I can't walk correctly if you are grabbing me…"

"Come on tell me…" said Ayano while looking at Shintaro's face still holding his arm.

"Y-Yeah… she said we should go to a restaurant nearby her home one day…" answered Shintaro while looking at Ayano with his usual expression, as if it wasn't anything out of the ordinary.

"Wha-" Ayano looked kind of surprised.

"W-What is it?" asked Shintaro with a confused look on his face. He clearly didn't know why Ayano was so surprised.

"Are you going?" asked Ayano while looking at Shintaro.

"I… don't know… does it matter?" answered the boy.

"Not really… Shintaro-kun let's go eat lunch together… the two of us… alone!" said Ayano while playing with her scarf.

"W-Why though…" asked Shintaro while stepping back a little.

"Then it's a… no?" asked Ayano with a sad look on her face.

"I didn't mean that… okay let's go eat together, but still what does that have to do with-"

"Anyway that doesn't… matter… okay? Let's just go, we will eat lunch together outside and then practice with Kousuke a little and then finally study all afternoon, is that good?"

"Hey look here… we have to study a lot today…"

"Y-Yeah you are right… so I guess we can't go today" Ayano looked really sad now. She had that usual expression of hers that feels as if she was sad on the inside but wouldn't really show it on the outside, but since Shintaro was used to it he knew she was really sad. She had her eyes half closed and was looking at the ground.

"H-Hey its fine we can go tomorrow…" said Shintaro while looking worried about her.

"You sure?" asked Ayano with the same sad look.

"Yeah let's concentrate today on practice and studying though" answered Shintaro.

"Yes so that tomorrow we can have all the day for ourselves, okay?"

"Y-Yeah I guess…"

"Good… good… I'll look for a place we can go okay?"

"Yeah okay…"

Both of them kept walking in that cold day until they reached Ayano's house. Seto was playing basketball in the backyard of the house. He greeted them as soon as they got there; they also decided to practice a little before lunch.

"Hey Kousuke you are already practicing…" said Ayano.

"H-Hey…morning" said Shintaro.

"Morning Shintaro-san" said Seto while grabbing a bottle of water he had nearby.

"Okay then let's get started" said Ayano in a cheerful way.

"Okay Shintaro-san, let's try to learn how to score first, but I also I got a question, who is going to play besides us 3?" asked Seto while holding a basketball.

"Uhmm I was thinking maybe Kido could play… I think I have an idea" said Shintaro while looking at Seto.

"Oh then let me go get her" said Ayano while going inside the house.

("I wonder what Shintaro is thinking about… is Tsubomi-chan really good at basket?")

Ayano went to Kido's room and knocked on the door. She came out right away; it seems she was just playing some RPG in her computer.

"Hey Tsubomi-chan would you like to play basketball with us?"

"Ah, Shintaro came today too?" asked Kido curiously.

"Y-Yeah why?" asked Ayano.

"Okay then, I'll play, why basketball though?"

"Because we have a match in school, you really like being with Shintaro Tsubomi-chan… "

"Yeah I like being with you two, also he likes the same games as me so it is really cool too!" said Kido while following Ayano to the backyard.

Ayano and Kido arrived at the backyard, Shintaro and Seto were practicing already, and Shintaro was learning how to catch a pass from Seto. Most of the times it ended with the ball hitting him face though.

"Shintaro-san are you okay!" Seto looked a little worried about him.

"Y-Yeah I'm completely… fine…agh…" Shintaro looked a little tired already.

"Hey I brought Kido"

"Morning Shintaro-san…"

"Morning Kido…huh…" Shintaro was still catching his breath.

"Will this improve social links?" asked Kido while looking at the boy.

"Yeah a lot also… like 2 levels"

"Hehe… you always get my jokes…" said Kido while smiling.

"What are you guys talking about all the time seriously…" asked Ayano a little confused.

"Just a game… well anyway Kido here grab the ball and try to score against Seto" said Shintaro while handing the ball to Kido.

Kido tried to score but Seto was able to quickly block the shot.

"As I thought Seto is really good, but now try to dribble past him…" said Shintaro while looking at the two that were playing.

Kido started to dribble and suddenly she was behind Seto, she threw the ball but didn't score though.

"Whoa… that was surprising… it's the same as those times she disappears" said Seto while looking at the rest.

"Yeah it thought it could work in the basketball game too…"

"B-But I'm not really that good at shooting though… so what do we do after I do that?" asked Kido.

"You won't have to shoot, only Seto will, he will be our ace in the match" answered Shintaro.

"Haha, you flatter me Shintaro-san" said Seto.

"So we now have 4 players, who else is going to play, maybe I should call Shuuya-kun but he has been kind of weird lately…" Ayano asked while looking at Shintaro.

"Momo will be our fifth player; I already asked her this morning" answered Shintaro.

"I see… so Momo-chan will play too… is she really good like Kousuke?" asked Ayano.

"N-no… not really, but we are going to make a tactic using her ability too, just kind of like the opposite of Kido obviously since it is kind of the exact opposite ability" answered Shintaro.

"Are we going to form a crowd in the middle of the match?" asked Ayano.

"You could say it is something like that…" answered Shintaro.

"Well then maybe we should practice all together next weekend, including Momo-san" said Seto while picking up the ball.

"Yes and by then we will already know the winner of the festival too" added Ayano.

"Okay then it's decided the team will be us 4 and Momo-san, let's keep practicing" said Seto.

"Okay Seto give me a pass, Kido you stand between us and intercept it and pass it to Ayano as fast as you can okay?" Shintaro explained a simple tactic he came up with.

Seto then proceeded to pass the ball to Shintaro, but it was intercepted by Kido who gave it to Ayano right away, the result was a pass that looked like it made a 90 degree turn because normally they wouldn't notice Kido between the two boys.

"Whoa that is so cool… I can't believe you came up with this Shintaro-kun" said Ayano.

"It is a little slow though, but it should work" added Shintaro.

"So then Momo-chan would be marked right away right?" asked Ayano.

"Yeah…and that would leave us with more space to pass freely and use Kido's ability since the passing is a little slow that way because of the positioning, but it would be certain points if it works" answered Shintaro.

"We will need a practice match to test it out though" added Seto.

"Yeah… well I think with this it should be enough for today after all we don't even know if we are going to win the festival first place" added Shintaro.

"Wait isn't there also a volleyball match?" asked Ayano while looking at Shintaro.

"Yeah there is also that…" answered the boy.

"Ah… in that sport it wouldn't be that useful using my ability and I am not that good either at that one" added Kido.

"I can play in that match too if you want me too Shintaro-san" added Seto.

"Y-Yeah thanks…" answered the boy.

"Me too!" said Ayano.

"T-Thanks… now we have 3 people then for that one…"

"4 people… I can play too… or at least be on the bench or something, but if you can't find anyone else I can play I will practice I promise…" said Kido while holding the ball.

"Thanks guys…" said Shintaro. It looked like he was smiling but Ayano wasn't sure.

("I have to train too to help Shintaro-kun win 3 of the matches")

"Hey Ayano lets go study" Shintaro was talking to Ayano while she was spacing out.

"Ah… huh yeah…" Ayano was still spacing out.

Ayano took Shintaro to her bedroom to study. She started to think if she had cleaned or if it was a complete mess, well usually it was pretty clean anyway so there wasn't much to worry about. As soon as she opened the door though, she started getting nervous and her heart beating faster.

("Oh crap… my heart… it's beating really fast… it's just studying Ayano come on calm yourself")

"Okay so what do you want to study first?" Shintaro was looking at Ayano's books.

"Ah… eh… anything is fine I think…" Ayano couldn't stop looking at Shintaro.

("I feel my face kind of hot…")

"Well let's study some literature then…"

"Okay…"

"Here, this is the homework they gave us the other time, did you do it?"

"N-No I didn't really have time to do it"

"Okay at this part, this answer should be…" Shintaro continued to explain the homework to Ayano.

"Shintaro-kun a little slower… you are going too fast and I can't read at this distance…"

"Shouldn't you be wearing your glasses then?"

"Oh yeah you are right… I took them off to play basketball… let me just get them…" Ayano started looking for her glasses. They were on top of Shintaro's red jacket on her chair.

"Oh my red jacket… it's been some days since I use it"

"Oh yeah do you want it back?"

"No it's fine you can use it if you need it"

"It's a really cool jacket actually I really like it"

"Really? I just think it's normal"

"No really and it is really warm for these cold days"

"Yeah I guess so…"

"Eh… sometimes I don't even wear it though… I just smell it because it reminds me of you-"

Ayano froze still for a moment. She started thinking about what she had said just now.

("Wha-")

("No, no way I just said that… this is the part where I wake up…right?")

"Ahaha… Shintaro-kun why are you so quiet…" Shintaro was blushing a little.

"Ah… nothing in particular…"

"Did you… hear what I said?"

"About the jacket being cool?"

"N-no…after that…"

"About it being… warm"

"A-After that…"

"N-No I… I mean…" Shintaro was starting to get redder. Ayano realised he heard everything she said.

"Ahhhh you totally totally heard that!" Ayano was really blushing like never before this time.

"Ah so-sorry!" Shintaro seemed a little embarrassed too.

"Why is it that it's me always saying the embarrassing stuff out loud and never you… it's not fair"

"I-I don't know…"

"You think of embarrassing stuff too right?"

"Huh?" Shintaro looked really confused now.

"Come on tell me at least one thing so that I'm not the only one every time we meet!"

"I-I don't know… I can't think of anything…"

"Come on something… don't leave me here saying embarrassing stuff alone Shintaro-kun"

"O-Okay calm down… I… I think…"

"You… think…" Ayano sat down besides Shintaro.

"Your glasses…"

"What about them?" She leaned closer to him.

"They look really…"

"They look really…" Ayano was just staring at Shintaro intensely with her hands on her legs.

"Cool I guess…"

"Ah come on that's not even embarrassing Shintaro-kun!"

"Okay cute then…"

"They look c-cute?"

"No… I mean… you look cute…"

"T-Thanks…"

"I-Is that enough?"

"Y-Yeah…"

"Let's continue studying okay?"

"Okay"

They continued studying for 3 hours straight without stop, until Ayano was too tired to continue.

"My eyes kind of hurt right now…" said Ayano while rubbing her eyes.

"Yeah mine too, let's take a break then" answered Shintaro.

"Hey why don't we go for a walk outside, let's take some fresh air!"

"Okay…"

"Oh wait… it's raining outside!" Ayano was looking out the window.

Shintaro stood up too and went to look with Ayano. It was indeed raining; it wasn't that hard but still raining after all.

"Let me go get my umbrella…" Ayano started to look in her room until she got a pink umbrella.

"Huh… I thought it would be red…" Shintaro said as he was looking at the umbrella in Ayano's hand.

"Hehe… well this is not the umbrella of a hero then, just a normal one… let's go!"

Both of them went out to walk for a while. The day was really cold now.

("I wonder if Shintaro thinks about Chitanda-san lately…")

"So… where do you want to eat tomorrow?" Shintaro was looking at Ayano.

"Heh… I think anywhere would be fine…" Ayano was holding the umbrella under the rain. They were pretty close to each other.

"I think so too…"

"Yeah… so it's a date then…" Ayano was holding her scarf up to her mouth.

"Da-Date?"

"Yes… a date…"

Ayano was walking at the right of Shintaro. She was grabbing the umbrella with her left hand but as soon as she said date, she changed it to her to her right hand and grabbed Shintaro's hand with hers. She went closer to him still under the umbrella, she was now standing in front of him, and while still grabbing his hand and the umbrella she leaned toward him, until her forehead was touching his chest.

"Can it… be a date?" asked Ayano without looking away from the ground.

"Y-Yeah… its fine… I guess…"

Ayano felt Shintaro's hand let go of her hand. She was still really close to him and looking at the ground though so she couldn't really see his face expressions or anything, but she could only think of one thing.

("I guess he doesn't really like me")

Ayano felt the urge to cry in that moment. She felt really sad by that simple moment when he let go of her hand, even though it was just a few seconds, because as soon as she was going to lift her head to see him she felt the same hand that she was holding before but grabbing her from her back. It seems Shintaro wanted to draw her closer to him. She felt really happy at that moment.

("D-Does he want to hug me… I'm gonna hug you back you know…")

Ayano felt truly happy at that moment. She could feel Shintaro really close. He was hugging her with both arms while she was grabbing the back of his clothes with her left hand because she was still holding the umbrella with her other hand. Ayano lifted her head to see his face. She had never seen Shintaro that red before. For some reason this was a real case of blushing for him, not that it wasn't for her too though she could feel her face really hot. She decided to break the ice.

"Shintaro-kun…"

"What is it?"

"I don't know what to say at this kind of moment…"

"Don't say anything… it's pretty embarrassing as it is already"

"Yeah you are right…"

("Then I guess I'll just enjoy the moment… the two of us alone…")

"Oh I didn't expect to see you two out here!" It was Chitanda and her friend.

"Hey" said Oreki. They were also sharing an umbrella.

("Dammit!")

Shintaro and Ayano quickly let go of each other.

"Hey what are you guys doing here?" Ayano asked.

"Someone insisted she wanted to check this part of the town because she was curious" said Oreki.

"Well we are going to be here for a while anyway so we might as well explore the whole place right Oreki-san?" Chitanda was looking expectantly at her friend.

"It's too tiring, if I don't have to do it I won't do it, and if I have to do it I'll do it quickly, but since you dragged me all the way already might as well enjoy the trip"

"Well let's go Oreki-san, I want to see that store over there! Bye Shintaro-san, Ayano-san" Chitanda waved while going away with Oreki.

"See you guys soon… I guess" Oreki followed Chitanda.

"Do you think they are dating each other?" Ayano was looking at Shintaro.

"How am I supposed to know…?" Shintaro looked kind of cold.

"Oh if you are cold let's go buy some coffee Shintaro-kun"

"Yeah that would be nice…"

Shintaro and Ayano entered a store and bought some coffee and cake to warm up their bodies. They started talking about the trip to the mountains, about how cold it was going to be if days were this cold here in town. They started talking about online friends since it seemed both of them had an online friend which they talked to almost every day.

"Huh… so what is your friend's name Shintaro-kun?"

"It's Frau Koujiro… he helps me with programming, what about yours?"

"Oh its Hase Yuuki… we usually talk about the person he loves it seems he is really in love with a classmate of his"

"Huh… interesting… I have never seen my friend in real life though…"

"Yeah me neither… I wonder how they are…"

"Well anyway we should go back and keep studying"

"Yeah you are right… let's go!"

They went back to Ayano's house. As soon as they got inside Kano and Kido were in the living room all wet, as if they had fallen outside under the rain.

"Hey what happened to you guys…?" Ayano looked surprised.

"Oh…Kano told me we should use my ability to follow you guys it was his fault!"

"Hey Kido!" Kano looked at Kido but she just looked away.

"So you fell in the rain… why were you doing that?"

"Ah… because I won't let you take my sister away from me!" Kano was looking at Shintaro, he then proceeded to run to his room.

"Ugh this is so cold…" Kido was just standing there trembling of cold.

"Ah Tsubomi-chan we have to change your clothes right now or you will catch a cold… Shintaro-kun I'll be right back" Ayano took Kido upstairs to change her clothes and dry her up.

Shintaro was waiting for Ayano when his phone started ringing. It was his online friend.

-Yo, I remembered something, since you are entering the science festival or whatever it was by doing that program, I thought, if you win, I'll give you a prize! It is something I made, I'm sure you are gonna love it!-

-What is it?-

-Not telling you noob, not yet at least, just win that tournament, seeya xP-

-Okay I guess so see you-

"Shintaro-kun?" Ayano was standing next to Shintaro already. It seems she was done with helping Kido.

"Oh… sorry I was talking with my online friend I told you about"

"Oh was it something about programming?"

"Yeah, he promised me a gift if we won the tournament"

"Cool! I wonder what it could be…" Ayano looked curious.

"Well let's just keep studying for now we still have a lot to cover…"

"Yeah okay…"

They sat down in the living room this time since it was quieter than upstairs. They continued studying by making all of the homework stuff Ayano hadn't done in the past few weeks. Ayano was now silent because she was doing a test Shintaro made for her to see how she was for the upcoming tests.

"Hey Shintaro-kun…"

"What is it?"

"I was wondering…"

"Something about a question in the test?"

"N-No the questions are fine I think I get most of them, mainly thanks to your teaching but… I was wondering… do you like purple?"

"Huh? The color?"

"Actually… do you like… purple eyes?"

"Why?"

"Are they beautiful?"

"I don't really know… I think so…"

"I see… so… do you like… my eyes…?"

"I-I love them…" Shintaro was speaking kind of with a low voice, but Ayano was able to hear it clearly since it was so quiet now in the room.

"Oh re-really I guess… th-thanks" Ayano was getting pretty nervous. It seems Shintaro had his arm covering part of his face, maybe he said that without noticing and he was embarrassed about it, but Ayano felt really happy either way.

"Just continue studying idiot… and don't ask weird questions just concentrate…" Shintaro still looked kind of embarrassed.

"Okay!" Ayano looked really happy. She kept thinking about what Shintaro said for a while.

They continued studying for 3 more hours. Shintaro had fallen asleep while Ayano was doing another homework kind of test to practice.

"Oh it's really late… Shintaro-kun wake up…" Ayano started to move Shintaro a little to wake him up but very carefully so that he wouldn't get scared, but it seems it wasn't enough as he just leaned to her side while still sleeping. Shintaro's head was starting to fall so Ayano held it until it was on her lap.

("This is like… a date… oh god my heart is really beating fast now, what do I do, I'm so nervous…")

Shintaro slowly woke up after Ayano put one of her hands on his hair.

"Oh I fell asleep sorry… I'm kind of tired…"

"Don't worry its fine… It's getting really late though…"

"Yeah I should go home or Momo will start getting worried…"

"Yes I think so too"

"By the way how did I end up sleeping on your lap?" Shintaro was blushing a little while looking to the side.

"Ah… eh… you fell so I held your head so that you wouldn't hurt yourself"

"Oh… thanks… so-sorry…"

"N-No it's fine… also if you want to do it again…"

"A-Again?"

"Ah n-no nevermind…"

"Huh… well I guess I'll get going now…"

"Yeah… remember tomorrow… our… da-date…" Ayano seemed pretty embarrassed.

"Yeah, see you tomorrow, talk before going to sleep by messages?"

"Yeah that sounds good! See you tomorrow!" Ayano was waving at Shintaro at the entrance of her house.

Shintaro went back to his house. Momo was waiting in his room for him.

"Oni-chan I kind of missed you today, let's play some games"

"Momo… what are you doing in here…"

"I was playing on your computer why?"

"Ahhh… never mind… okay let's play prepare to be beaten various times"

"Hohoooo we will see about that! Maybe I'll use bankai or something today!"

"By the way do you want to play a basketball match with us?"

"Yeah that would be cool is Kido-chan gonna play too?"

"Yeah she is gonna play, and we kinda need your ability too to win"

"Whoa, seriously?"

"Yep we need both of you to have a chance of winning"

"Then you can count with this cool basketball ace oni-chan!"

"Let's just play already…" They spent what was left of the day playing games on Shintaro's room. Ayano texted Shintaro and they talked about meeting for their date at same coffee shop they went when it was raining. He then continued playing with Momo who fell asleep in his room after a few hours.

The next day Shintaro woke up with Momo hugging him. It seems she slept the whole night there; she even changed into her pajama.

"Oh… I have to go now… Momo wake up"

"Aghhh I don't want to go to school…"

"There's no school today idiot…"

"Hehehehe… pancakes…" Momo just kept sleeping in Shintaro's bed.

Shintaro quickly got ready for his date with Ayano.

As soon as he got to the coffee shop he saw Ayano. She was just standing there waiting for him. She was wearing her glasses. Shintaro instantly thought about what he told her the other day.

"H-Hey…"

"Hey Shintaro-kun… how do I look…?"

"You look… cute…"

"You think so?"

"Yeah…"

"T-Thanks…"

"So… where do we go?"

"I know a place I want to go!"

"Okay let's go then"

Ayano grabbed Shintaro's hand as they started to walk.

"Since at the festival we got separated the other time… this way… you know… we won't get separated…"

"O-Okay" Shintaro only looked forward though. It was kind of embarrassing doing this for him, but he was still happy about it. There weren't that many people on the streets for it to be necessary thought he also thought.

They arrived at a restaurant kind of place. It was the place Ayano wanted to go. On the entrance there was a sign that said "Couples day!" explaining that it was a day for couples to get a really good discount with a special event for them.

"A-Ayano… did you know it was couple days?" Shintaro was kind of nervous.

"N-No actually I didn't I seriously didn't… let's go to another place this is way to embarrassing for just eating lunch I mean"

"Come in, come in! Lovely couple don't just stand there come in!" Ayano and Shintaro got pulled into the store.

"N-No we are not a couple though!" Ayano was trying to explain to the girl that pulled them in.

"Oh that doesn't matter as long as you are together come on and also I know you were looking for somewhere to eat it will be way cheaper here today if you are a couple, so just relax also it will be fun you could meet interesting people here I'll get you two love birds to a table, enjoy yourself!"

Somehow Shintaro and Ayano were already sitting at a table.

"Well she was serious about it being really cheap eating here today though…"

"Yeah the prices are really good, let's just stay here then, I wonder what she meant by meeting interesting people though…"

"Maybe she meant other couples?"

"I guess so maybe…"

"Here your order!"

"But we haven't even ordered yet though… oh this is exactly what I wanted!" Ayano looked really surprised.

"Oh… this too is what I wanted!" Shintaro looked so as well.

"Hehehe I'm the best in town at this stuff after all, so do you still feel like you wouldn't have entered here?"

"N-No you are pretty amazing this is so cool!"

"Thanks lovely couple! Enjoy your food together!"

"Oh yeah thanks but we are not-"

"Oh she left…"

"I guess she is pretty busy after all…"

"So you guys got dragged here by her as well?" A girl started talking to Ayano and Shintaro. She looked pretty nervous though.

"Yeah… you too then?" asked Ayano.

"Yeah… well I'm Na-Natsume Rin! Ni-Nice to meet you! And t-this is Riki" The girl was looking at Shintaro and Ayano waiting for a response, she still seemed pretty nervous.

"Hi, nice to meet you I'm Naoe Riki" The boy waved at Ayano and Shintaro from his table.

"Oh nice to meet you I'm Tateyama Ayano and this is Kisaragi Shintaro"

"Hey" Shintaro also just waved at the girl and the boy sitting near them.

"So were you two also just looking for somewhere to eat?" the girl seemed a little nervous as she asked every question. Ayano started wondering why.

"Ah… yea… by the way are you okay?" Ayano seemed a little worried about the girl.

"Y-Yeah w-w-w-why do you ask?" the girl looked really nervous now.

"Hahaha… Rin I think that should be okay…"

"You think so Riki… I'm pretty nervous already..." The girl sat right beside her partner and started hiding behind him.

"Uhm well as you may see, Rin is kind of really shy and it was a challenge she wanted to do that I proposed to her to see if she could talk to some couple here today" The boy was talking to Ayano and Shintaro while his partner continued to hide behind him. He seemed pretty calmed talking to them though.

"I see… well Rin-san you don't have to be so shy though it's fine really, Shintaro-kun is actually really nice despite being so cold sometimes!" Ayano tried to calm Rin down.

"H-Hey…" Shintaro said as he was eating his food.

"See Rin its fine they are really nice people to talk to!" Riki was trying to get Rin to talk more.

"Nyaahh!" Rin just kept hiding behind him though.

"Ahaha Rin you are so cat-like" said the boy while looking at his partner and petting her head.

"S-So are you guys a couple?" Rin asked Ayano and Shintaro.

"N-No we are just friends… we were just looking for somewhere to eat" Ayano answered.

"Oh that's a relief they are the same as us then Riki!" Rin looked kind of enthusiastic now.

"Well we should get going now though, it was nice meeting you!" said Riki as he stood up.

"Very nice meeting you nyah!" said Rin as she also followed him very quickly.

"Take care guys!" Ayano waved at them.

"Yeah take care…" Shintaro also waved at them.

"They were a really cute couple" Ayano started talking to Shintaro.

"I think so…"

Suddenly both of them heard a familiar girl voice nearby. It was the black haired girl and her usual partner.

"You hear me? We are not a couple we are only eating here because it is cheaper this way!"

"Okay Hiyori I heard you the first time I get it we are not a couple…"

"Good… now let's eat"

"Okay… you look really cute today by the way…"

"Ah! Don't say those things it makes us look like we are a couple I told you already!"

"Ahhh! So-Sorry Hiyori!"

"Well… thanks though" the girl started to look to the ground.

"Huh?"

"You look good too okay? Now shut up and just eat okay!?"

"Ahhh… okay!" the boy looked really happy.

"Haha I see their relationship is the same as always hehe…"Ayano said to Shintaro.

"Yeah as weird as always… they still get along pretty well though I guess…" Shintaro added.

Another couple used the table that Riki and Rin were previously using.

"Hey Shintaro-kun we should do the same as Rin-chan and talk to them to keep on the meet interesting people thing at the restaurant!" Ayano proposed the idea to Shintaro.

"Y-You think so?"

"Yeah! Hi, I'm Ayano!" Ayano said while looking at the couple.

"Hi I'm Yui!" The girl answered right away and pretty cheerfully.

"H-Hey I'm Shintaro…" said Shintaro while looking at the boy.

"Nice to meet you Shintaro-san I'm Aoki!" They looked really happy.

"Are you guys a couple?" asked Ayano.

"Uhmm… I wish we were… hahaha!" Aoki said while looking at Yui.

"A-Aoki! Don't say those things… It's embarrassing…" the girl started blushing really hard.

"Well but I have confessed my love for her countless of times…"

"And I like you too but… but… it's still embarrassing…" the girl was still looking really red.

"How about you guys?" Aoki asked Ayano and Shintaro.

"N-No we are not a couple..." Answered Ayano.

"But you look really cute together though seriously!" said Yui while looking at them.

"T-Thanks…" Ayano looked really embarrassed now.

"Now all of the couples here! You should dance together! Right Miria?"

"Indeed Isaac! Couples should enjoy dancing together right?"

"It's a given that couples should enjoy dancing slow music together in fancy places right?"

"Yes! Dancing with your partner to slow music and jazz!"

"Let's dance Miria!"

"Yes, Isaac!"

"Isn't that the same couple as the train one?" asked Shintaro while looking at Ayano.

"I think so… they are dressed as chefs too maybe they work here!" Ayano looked expectantly at the couple.

"So… here some slow music for the lovely couples, dance and strengthen your love for each other" said the guy in the chef clothes.

"Strengthen your love for each other a thousand times!" said the blonde girl in chef clothes.

"You don't even need to know how to dance just stand with your partner like this and embrace each other, right Miria!?"

"Yes Isaac!" The couple started dancing together and a few others also did it.

"Maybe we should also dance Shintaro-kun…"

"I don't really like dancing though…"

"Yeah me neither but it would be nice right now!"

"Y-Yeah okay…"

They stood up and grabbed each other hands. They started going with the rhythm of the song and moving from side to side. Neither of them really knew how to dance at all after all so it was just something really simple.

"Now exchange partner with the couple right beside you!" said the guy in chef clothes.

"The one beside you!" repeated the blond girl in chef clothes.

"Ehhh?" Ayano seemed a little confused but she ended up dancing with Aoki.

"H-Hey there…" Aoki said to Ayano as he started dancing with her.

"Ahaha… what a weird thing for a restaurant…" Ayano seemed still a little confused. She started looking at Shintaro that was now dancing with Yui.

"You are not a bad dancer Shintaro-san…" said Yui while she held his hands.

"T-Thanks you too…" answered Shintaro right away.

Ayano noticed Shintaro also looked at her while dancing with Yui.

"And now again!" said the guy in chef clothes.

"Again!" said the girl in chef clothes.

"Wha-" Ayano ended up dancing with another person again.

"Hi there! I'm Yumasaki Walker!" It was a blonde boy with a blue hoodie.

"H-Hey there, I'm Ayano!" Ayano was a little bit surprised by his attitude; it was kind of funny and relaxing.

"Hey there, I'm Karisawa Erika!" said the girl that was dancing with Shintaro now.

"H-Hey I'm Kisaragi Shintaro!" Shintaro also was quite surprised by how cheerful she was.

"Hey, hey look Yuma-chi, I'm dancing with someone with a name like a manga protagonist, don't you think it sounds like that?" said Erika to her partner.

"Yes Karisawa-san!" Yumasaki made Ayano do a spin while dancing, she was pretty clumsy but she managed to do it.

"Hey boy, are you two a couple?" said Karisawa while she tilted to one side while he was holding her.

"N-No we are not…"

"Oh I see… but you look like a couple from a manga, you should come visit us at Ikebukuro one day! We could go buy some manga or things like that, right Yuma-chi?"

"Yes that would be really nice you look like an interesting couple!"

"Haha thanks…" Ayano looked kind of happy, so did Shintaro.

"And now change!" said Isaac.

"Cha-cha-change!" said Miria.

"Whoa again seriously?" said Shintaro in all the confusion.

"Whoa, hello Shintaro-san!" It was Chitanda.

"Chi-Chitanda?" Shintaro looked surprised.

"Hey long time no see" said Oreki to Ayano.

"Oh hi Oreki-san, wait does that mean Chitanda-san is here?"

"Yeah I think she is dancing with your friend…"

"Whaa-!" Ayano looked over to where Shintaro was, and he was indeed dancing with Chitanda now.

"Didn't expect to meet you here Shintaro-san, did you come with Ayano-san?"

"Yeah, I think she is dancing with your friend now too…"

"Oh yeah you are right she is dancing with Oreki-san!"

"Are you guys going out?" asked Shintaro to Chitanda.

"N-No we are just friends, what about you?"

"N-No we are also just friends!" said Shintaro while looking at Chitanda. Those purple eyes were as beautiful as ever.

"Oh I see, so tell me about your science project I'm still curious about it!" said Chitanda with a curious look on her face, she looked really expectantly.

"Uhmm I haven't fixed all of the bugs yet, so there is no point it showing it to you right now, it will be ready for Friday though…"

"Oh so for that day I hope we can meet to see it, okay?"

"Y-Yeah…"

"So Oreki-san… do you like these kind of things?"

"They are really energy consuming… I didn't want to come but Chitanda said she was curious about the part of meeting interesting couples so she dragged me here…"

"Hehe that sounds so like you!" said Ayano while dancing with him.

"I-I guess so…"

"And now you can change again if you want!" said Isaac.

"Again and again!" said Miria.

"Miria-san, Isaac-san! Stop playing with the customers!" It was the girl that was at the entrance.

"Ah… sorry Saki-chan, really, really sorry!" said Isaac in a dramatic way.

"We are sorry from the bottom of our hearts!" said Miria also in a dramatic way.

"Well just stop doing it for now please, but leave the music that is nice… sorry to our customers you can go back to your tables and continue eating!" The girl bowed in sign of apology with Isaac and Miria.

Everyone went back to their tables, they didn't seemed that bothered though, since Isaac and Miria always used to make everything fun and happy, it was like they spread happiness everywhere they went. Ayano and Shintaro sat down to continue to eat after saying goodbye to Oreki and Chitanda respectively after dancing with them.

"That was really confusing, we changed dance partners so quickly!" said Ayano to Shintaro while catching her breath.

"Yeah… it was really tiring…" Shintaro looked tired too.

"It seems the name of the girl that pulled us into the shop was Saki also"

"Yeah I heard that too when Miria and Isaac where talking to her"

"Look she is going to say something again!"

"Customers, to make your meal better we have two members of a really famous band today with us, please welcome Yui and Tsumugi!" There was a brown haired girl with big glasses and twin tails with a blond girl with long blonde hair.

"Hey look Shintaro-kun its Hirasawa Yui and Kotobuki Tsumugi!"

"Y-Yeah I didn't expect they would have this kind of band playing here…"

"H-Hi…" said the singer while holding her guitar.

"Fight Yui-chan!" said the other girl as she was trying to encourage her friend.

"We-we are going to play some romantic songs for you to-to-today!" The singer looked really nervous but as soon as they started playing she seemed really calm and concentrated on playing her guitar just as her friend playing the keyboard.

"Their music is always so nice don't you think so?" asked Ayano.

"Yeah it's pretty good, but doesn't the singer seem kind of with a sore throat?" added Shintaro.

"Hehe… maybe she sang too much these days to practice" said Ayano while laughing a little.

"Ehh… dear customers my partner Tsumugi will continue singing since my voice is so weird right now I am truly sorry really!" said Yui while still playing her guitar.

"Don't mind, Yui-chan!" said Tsumugi as she continued singing the song.

Everyone started applauding as soon as the song was over, then another really relaxing son started and this time only the girl playing the keyboard continued singing.

After a while they finished eating and hearing the two girls play romantic songs. They said goodbye to Saki, Isaac and Miria after paying and met with Yui and Aoki outside to talk a little at the park since Aoki thought it would be nice to meet another couple and get to know each other a little more since they couldn't talk much in the restaurant because of the dancing kind of prank Isaac and Miria came up with.

They talked about the gaming tournament and about the basketball match and volleyball match they would have to play if they won the science festival, they also showed Azami to them so that they could see it since they were really interested in it and pretty enthusiastic about it.

"Whoa with this you surely will win, then you should get prepared for the volleyball match already, we actually know someone who really likes to play volleyball, how about we introduce her to you guys?" asked Yui while looking at Ayano and Shintaro.

"Whoa that would be really useful we still don't have enough people for the volleyball match, do you think she would like to play with us?" answered Ayano.

"Yes I'm sure Iori-chan would love to play in a volleyball match, since this one will be more competitive, and she can't really play much with us because we kind of suck at it…" said Aoki while laughing a little.

"Well if she can come to practice a week before the match that should be enough I guess…" said Shintaro while looking at the other couple.

"Well we have to go already; we will ask Iori-chan as soon as we get home okay?" said Yui while grabbing her things and getting up from the bench they were sitting at.

"Yeah and since we already exchanged numbers it shouldn't be a problem to text each other right away when she answers, see ya!" said Aoki while walking away from them with Yui.

"See you guys soon!" said Ayano and Shintaro at the same time while waving at them.

"They were really nice, I think they really love each other…" said Ayano while looking at Shintaro.

"You think so?"

"Yeah it was pretty obvious after all; they were always looking at each other like… with that lovey-dovey look you know…"

"I-I guess so…"

"D-Did you like our date?" asked Ayano while staring at Shintaro.

"Yeah it was… pretty nice…"

"Thank god… what a relief…"

"W-Why?"

"Because I thought you would get bored of being with me so many days a week… or something like that"

"I'm never bored of being with you…" said Shintaro.

"Really? Seriously?" asked Ayano.

"O-Of course…"

"I… I also love being with you, every day, I never get tired of it!" said Ayano while blushing, but she kept looking at him.

"T-Thanks…" Shintaro looked really happy this time.

Ayano kept looking at Shintaro, he had a smile on his face, for some reason this made her blush like crazy, like never before so she buried her face on his chest so that he couldn't see her face so red.

"W-Whoa it is so cold right now!" said Ayano nervously.

"Y-You think so… I think it's not as cold as yesterday anymore though"

"It must be your imagination or maybe because it is not raining I don't know…" Ayano still sounded somewhat nervous and embarrassed.

("Ah… calm down… I really want to hug him and not let him go never again though…")

"S-So then tomorrow we should go to the clubroom and keep practicing with Haruka and Takane right?" Shintaro tried to break the awkward silence.

"Y-Yeah I think so…also we should keep studying together, if you have the time of course…" said Ayano also trying to break the awkward silence and continue a conversation.

"Yeah of course I have the time if it is for… you…" Shintaro looked red like a tomato.

"T-Thanks Shintaro-kun…" Ayano wasn't any different right now she was also red as a tomato.

They continued like that for a while, until they relaxed a little and Ayano leaned to her side until her head was on Shintaro's shoulder, they talked like that for a while, about the gaming tournament, about the people they met that day, about the science festival and about the next weekend plans.

They decided to practice for the basketball match and volleyball match mainly because they were the easiest ones to practice at home or at school since they didn't need that much space to come up with tactics for the match and actually practice them, but if they didn't win the science festival they decided they would use the weekend only to practice for the tournament and study for the tests.

After a few hours of walking and talking at the park it got late and they decided they should go home already to prepare for school the day after and also Shintaro needed to keep working on the Azami program and Ayano wanted to keep studying a little more before going to sleep that day.

"Well Shintaro-kun it was a really nice date, thanks for such a great day…" said Ayano while blushing slightly.

"N-No I should be thanking you thanks for… taking me to this place it was really nice…" Shintaro looked the same as Ayano, slightly blushing but they both looked kind of sad to say goodbye to each other for the day.

"Well see you tomorrow at school then!" said Ayano.

"Yeah see you tomorrow at school" said Shintaro.

Ayano hugged Shintaro quickly before starting to walk in the direction of her house while she waved at him with a smile on her face. Shintaro waved back at her.

When Shintaro got home Momo was in his room again playing videogames.

"Momo… shouldn't you be studying?"

"Ehehehehe… I don't understand the homework…" said Momo while looking at him.

"Agh… I'm pretty tired you know… well… let's go…"

"Where to oni-chan?" asked Momo while looking at him.

"To do your homework of course, I'm going to help you…"

"Whoa seriously?"

"Yeah so turn that off so that we can start doing your homework, how many pages of homework do you have?"

"Like… uhmmm… 50? Something like that!" said Momo while turning the computer off.

"Whoa… seriously… and how many have you done?"

"2 already!" said Momo proudly.

"Ahh… It's gonna be a long night of studying then…"

"Thanks for helping me thought oni-chan, love you!" said Momo happily.

"S-Shut up… that sounds so embarrassing…"

"Ehhh… but I really love you, you don't love me oni-chan?"

"Y-Yeah… I do too…"

"hehe… thanks oni-chan… you know being with Ayano-chan has really made you so much nicer to me, love is such a good thing after all right?" said Momo while laughing and throwing kisses at the air trying to tease Shintaro.

"S-Shut up… what do you mean love?"

"Of course you love her don't you!?" asked Momo while sitting in a chair right beside him with her notebooks and homework sheets she hadn't completed yet, it seems they were from the past two weeks and she had done only 2 pages from 55 pages of homework.

"S-Shut up… just… hey this is more than what you said it was Momo…" said Shintaro while counting the pages of homework Momo still hadn't done.

"Hehe… sorry oni-chan… please help me though!"

"Yeah… let's just start… when do you have this completed?"

"For tomorrow!" said Momo happily.

"Wha-"

"Hehe… please?" Momo looked at Shintaro while grabbing his arm.

"Okay… we better make coffee for this though…"

"I'm already on it!" Momo was already preparing some coffee for the two of them.

They stayed a long time awake until they finished all of Momo's homework. She fell asleep on the table so Shintaro had to carry her to her room. As soon as he got to his room he fell asleep right away. The thought about having to stay even more time the day after because of club activities was even more tiring so he just fell asleep right away as soon as his head touched his pillow.

The next day he woke up really sleepy. He also had to wake up Momo, which was almost impossible because she usually slept even more than him every night so this day she was really almost falling asleep everywhere.

Shintaro just thought about Ayano the whole morning and about the date they had. He wondered how it would be practicing with her and Takane and Haruka today. He then noticed Momo had fallen asleep on her food plate, he woke her up and then they headed to school together.

"Hey Momo did you remember to bring your homework with you?" asked Shintaro while they were walking on the street outside of their house to head for school.

"Yeah…yeah… pancakes…" Momo was falling asleep standing in the street.

"Ahhh…Dammit…" Shintaro said while sighing. He grabbed Momo and gave her a piggy back ride all the way to school. He arrived really tired. It was going to be a really sleepy day for both of them.

* * *

Feel free to comment if you liked the chapter or not, as always thanks a lot for reading. Sayonara! until chapter 6.


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